Skin Deep
by WofOZ
Summary: Terror is a funny thing. It strikes fear in the hearts of many and causes some to cower and submit. Thankfully, Steve's not having it, Five-0 isn't having it, and they damn sure wont let anyone else have it. Not on their watch, not on their islands and most definitely not when it involves their own Jersey detective.
1. Coffee Run Gone Wrong

**Recently I had the unfortunately pleasure of being the victim of prejudice. I wont get into it and it wasn't a serious incident; more stupidity than anything else but from that I've given rise to this new story. **

**So we can thank the idiot who wasn't raised in this century and had a firm talking down from several of the people around me during the incident. I dedicate this story to that person whose ignorance shocked me past my writers block.**

**Here's me taking that lemon and making lemonade!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Oz**

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><p>The end.<p>

Or at least, that's what it felt like. Well it wasn't THE end, it was more like HIS end that's what a certain Jersey detective was convinced he was experiencing at that very moment.

How or why it was happening Danny Williams had no idea. Sure maybe he'd been a little brisk with the barista at the coffee place when she'd forgotten the cream in his coffee but who wouldn't be? It was four forty-five in the morning and not only had he been woken a half hour ago by his fearless and sleepless leader, he hadn't been caffeinated. So maybe he regretted giving the chipper Hawaiian girl a pinched smile as he politely demanded she make the drink again before he found some way to shut down the shop for health code violations. But had that brief interlude really lead to his current situation? He'd actually apologized when she returned with a new drink and a slightly more forced smile.

She'd eased her stance a little and said he wouldn't be the first and wouldn't be the last. So Danny's taken his coffee and the three others he'd gotten for his teammates and headed out. That's when the end began.

One moment, he was rounding the back of the building to the parking lot behind and the next thing he knew a white-hot pain threatened to take him from the conscious world. He wasn't sure it hadn't as blow after blow was delivered to his body again and again. It was the simple disbelief of what was happening to him that had short-circuited any self-defense response his brain would allow.

Something must have changed because finally mercifully the blows had stopped but not before he was sure his bruises had bruises and there was possibly a broken bone or six he had suffered.

"What the...? Oh sh**!" In the haze of pain and shock unfamiliar voices wafted into his ears as he felt himself being dragged but suddenly dropped.

"Keep your voice down fool! What is it?"

"This ain't some dumb haole, look!" Danny felt someone roughly grab his belt; he could only be thankful he'd left his gun locked in the glove compartment of his car.

"Is that a badge?!"

"He's a G*d damn pig! Brah! Dude! We beat up a hoale pig!"

"Ah ha! Yes, bruddah, yes! Let's dump him and go; he ain't seen our faces."

While the two voices traded back and forth gleefully, Danny felt himself being once again lifted roughly and shoved bodily forward only to land on what smelled like garbage.

'A dumpster? Really?' Danny's stunned mind thought to himself as the metal lid slammed down shrouding him in darkness.

"We gotta call someone. We gotta help him man." Curiously it was then a third voice joined the first two, it sounded less excited and happy and more hesitant and scared. "I ain't... I ain't goin' down for killin' a cop. We were just 'sposed to spook the Haole's but this is too far brah, too much! I didn't sign up for this!"

"We ain't going down for nuthin', now keep your damn mouth shut and let's get out of here," said the first voice. Several quick footsteps could be heard and soon faded far-far away.

Danny simply lay there, in his dark prison on a mound of garbage trying to figure out what was going on. Had he the faculties, he would have realized he was badly injured, hidden from any helping hands and trapped in a small dark place. But shock and injuries won out and moments of pain faded to nothing as an oily darkness seeped into his fogged mind and relieved him of the want to even think of how much trouble he was in.

**Five-0 Head Quarters: **

"Hey boss?" Steve looked up from his computer to find Kono leaning just inside his doorway. She looked tired, hell they all did and as much as Steve had felt bad waking up his team he knew they couldn't let their lead go. Three weeks ago random attacks had started happening in areas of Honolulu that had a mix of tourists and locals. The attacks would happen at random and different areas but the accounts from the victims had always been the same.

They were on vacation or simply looked non-native. The attacks would happen in the wee hours of the morning or late at night basically when no one would be around to help the victim. So far six people had been attacked and unfortunately one had died of their injuries. The Governor was breathing down Five-0's neck as the media was starting to put fear in the hearts of tourists and the industry was starting to suffer.

Then two hours ago, Steve had gotten a phone call from the night watch at H.P.D. Their cyber-crime unit had stumbled across a link to a website called "Aloha Kama'aina Style!" The site profiled all six victims horrific beatings and then left comments about how tourism was ruining the islands. This was the break Five-0 had been waiting for and now Steve had called in the team, regardless of the hour to go through the videos to see if they could catch any faces or evidence to stop the people responsible.

"What's up Kono? You found something?" Steve asked. Kono shook her head as she fought a yawn.

"Chin's still dissecting the videos, there's a lot to go through," she replied. "Just wondering if you've heard from Danny." Steve jerked his head back and looked at the clock on his wall. He'd been so involved in his own research that he'd completely forgotten about their fourth man. Sure enough, it was 5:50 am and Danny was over an hour late. Getting to his feet Steve pulled out his cell and hit his partner's speed dial.

After six rings the detective's answering service picked up; "Hey its Detective Williams, leave your details at the beep. If this is Commander McNo-patience, I'm sure I'll see you soon so don't bother." *beep* The message always made Steve laugh as it had the first time he'd heard it but the fact that the statement didn't seem to be true this time had the Navy SEAL a tad worried.

"Hey Danno, did you go back to sleep again? Come on buddy we got work to do and you were supposed to bring coffee. Kono's getting crazy eyes already." At that the Hawaiian officer grinned at him and shook her head. "So give me a call partner, let me know where you are." With that Steve hung up and stared at his phone.

"Something wrong?" Chin had appeared in the doorway next to his cousin. "Danny forget the coffee?"

"He didn't answer," Steve replied. Then he frowned and looked up at the two cousins who returned his look of consternation. Danny had been just as eager to get this case closed as anyone. He'd spent long hours and followed every lead in an effort to stop the senseless violence. It just didn't make sense that he wouldn't have been the second one to the office earlier that morning even if he was getting the coffee.

Just as Steve was considering making the trip to his partner's apartment, his cell phone started ringing again and low and behold up popped a picture of Danny with Grace in his arms.

"Speak of the devil," Steve sighed shaking his head. He gave the cousins a smile before answering; "You get lost on the way to the office Danno?" he joked.

"Uh..." When a very unfamiliar and very NOT Danny answered the detective's phone, Steve's spine stiffened drawing looks of concern from his teammates.

"Who is this? Where's Detective Williams?"

"M, my name is Keyla," said a shaking voice. Clearly whoever this was, was obviously upset and Steve knew he had to reign in his own concern if he wanted answers. He motioned to Chin to trace the call and followed the two cousins to the main computer table before returning to the conversation and putting it on speaker.

"Okay Keyla, can you tell me how you got this phone?" Steve asked.

"I heard it r, ring... he's... G*d I don't know I, if he's alive... I don't... I don't want to touch him." Steve's gut bottomed out, Kono and Chin's eyes went wide with concern as they all looked at one another. Swallowing hard, Steve forced himself to be calm.

"Sweet heart I need you to be strong for me right now okay?" he said. "Is the man short and blonde and wearing a badge that says Five-0?"

"Y, yeah," Keyla said. "M, Manny's called an ambulance but... but I don't know."

"Coffee shop of Manoa St," Chin said the trace having finished. Steve didn't need anymore, he Chin and Kono were moving toward the exit.

"Keyla I know it might be scary but please, I need you to check if he's breathing and has a pulse," Steve urged.

"Kay." There was shuffling over the line and Steve could hear and for a second he wondered if the call had been dropped.

"Hello?" said a new male voice.

"Who is _this_?" Steve grit out as he leapt into his truck and started the engine.

"Manny, I own Koa Coffee Hut," the man replied. "I've called an ambulance and the cops and yeah, the guys breathin' brah but he ain't looking to good. Keyla was takin' out the trash and just heard a phone ring. She's all shook up." Steve allowed himself to take a breath glad that is sounded like this guy was handling the situation.

"My name is Commander McGarrett," Steve said with an official air. "That guy's my partner and a senior detective with the Governor's task force; you don't let anyone but police and paramedics near him understand Manny?"

"You got it Commander."

Breaking every speed limit he could and weaving in and out of traffic like a mad man, Steve pulled up in the parking lot behind the coffee-house where an emergency scene was already unfolding. Chin and Kono pulled up seconds behind and together the three of them raced through police tape badges raised straight into the heart of it. An older man and a wide-eyed local girl stood off to one side as two paramedics and four fire fighters were crawling all over one of the buildings dumpsters.

"Okay, he's stable, nice and careful now on three," One of the paramedics who was in the dumpster with one of the fire fighters. "One, two, three."

Steve skidded to a halt suddenly unable to move. Chin and Kono did exactly the same as Danny's battered body was hefted out of the dumpster and gently placed on the waiting gurney.

"Danny..." Kono whooshed out. That got Steve moving, badge raised he raced forward to his partner's side trying to ignore how badly the man looked.

"Commander McGarrett, Five-0, he's my partner," Steve said jogging along side the gurney.

"Worked with your team on a few scenes," one paramedic nodded. "We're scooping and running with this one Commander, you're welcome to come for the ride." And Steve did so, he knew he didn't have to tell the cousins to handle the scene and that he'd keep them informed. They were a strong enough team to already know how a situation like this could go.

As the ambulance wailed its way through traffic, Steve watched as his partner's shirt was cut open revealing a mass of nasty bruises.

"What happened?" Steve asked in disbelief. As the paramedic worked to attach IV's and constantly check Danny's vitals, he shook his head.

"Best guess is he gotten beaten up good by at least three people," he replied. Then he paused only for a second in his ministrations; "Was at a scene like this a few days ago," he said. He looked up with a dark look in his eyes; "As I recall you and your team showed up there too." A rage like no other filled Steve's gut as he looked down at his blonde partner and narrowed his eyes. The gang they'd been tracking had now made the mistake of making it personal.

As Steve watched his friend take painful breaths, he put a hand gently on the man's leg.

"We'll get them Danny, you just hang in there," he encouraged.

Four hours of sitting in the waiting room, drinking bad coffee and pacing like a caged lion and Steve was finally rewarded with a doctor appearing and immediately heading in his direction. He'd been keeping in touch with Chin and Kono as they took statements and catalogued everything and anything that could be considered evidence. They were just finishing up and moments ago had called Steve to let him know they were on their way to the hospital.

"Doc," Steve nodded. "How's Danny?"

"Remarkably he'll be okay," the doctor replied. Steve closed his eyes, fought off every emotion that threatened to burst forth and took a breath. Opening again and allowed a small amount of relief he looked sternly at the man before him.

"He didn't look like he'd been fine Doc," he replied. The doctor nodded with understanding.

"Which is why I say he WILL be fine and not IS," he answered with respect. "He's got a minor concussion, three cracked ribs, a sprained wrist, two broken fingers and some cuts that needed a few stitches and deep bruises we're keeping an eye on but he's been cleared of any serious internal injury." Letting the information sink in, the Doctor put a hand on Steve's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly; "He's an extremely lucky man Commander, in fact, it looks like he managed to curl up on himself most likely protecting himself from serious injury."

"He was unconscious the whole way here," Steve said almost like he was trying to find out if the Doctor was lying to him or not.

"Yes he was, severe shock will do that to a person," came the calm reply. "As I said, we're watching him closely but we've got fluids and oxygen pumping into him as well as a regiment of pain medication. We'll keep him for 24 hours but baring any complications he'll be okay to go home for rest. He woke up shortly after he was brought in and has been steadily improving, I figured you'd want to be there for him as soon as I could allow."

"You thought right," Steve nodded. "Lead the way and... thanks Doc."

Soon enough Steve found himself at the foot of his partner's bed taking in the man's condition. Yes Danny did look better from the mess he'd been when Steve had last seen him but he was a far cry from looking like... well, like Danny. The detective's face was pale and bruised, his wrist was splinted, fingers as well and his chest tightly wrapped. Every breath looked like it hurt; undoubtedly it did with his rib situation.

"In't get the coffee. Sorry." Steve was so busy taking the man in that he startled slightly realizing two slits of blue eyes were now looking up at him. Quickly getting to his partner's side, the Navy SEAL put gentle hand on the man's shoulder.

"Don't worry Danno, I think I can forgive you," he smiled. Danny's face cringed and he tried to take a deep breath before abandoning the idea and opening his eyes a little wider.

"What happ'nd?" he grunted. Steve fought back the bitter taste of rage in his mouth and shook his head.

"What do you remember?" he asked. Danny tried to adjust himself as if it might help with the pain but again, abandoned the movement quickly.

"Nnn' wanting cream an' being a jerk about it," the detective replied. After a moment, Danny blinked his eyes a bit wider and he looked up at Steve. "Did I get beat up because I made the coffee lady angry?" he asked. Steve chuckled sadly but shook his head.

"No," he replied. "We think it might be..."

"The case we're working," Danny grunted.

"Yeah," Steve sighed. "M'sorry brah." The detective grunted again put gave him a small smile.

"For what?" he replied. "You didn't throw any punches."

"Sorry I haven't found these bastards yet," Steve came back instantly. Danny waved his good hand and shook his head.

"We will," he said. Then he winced and curled up a bit, a sure sign that it was time for some more pain medication.

"Time for the good drugs?" Steve asked.

"F'you'd be so kind," Danny chuckled through his pain. Steve pressed the call button to alert the nurse's station before giving his suffering partner another smile.

"You tell me what you need, Danno," he offered. With a wince and a grunt, Danny shook his head.

"Nail'em to the wall partner," he sighed. Then waking up a bit more, due to pain or to make sure he got his point across, Danny looked Steve in the eye and said; "I'm the last one, y'hear?"

"I hear you," Steve nodded firmly. Just then the nurse came in and gave the two men a smile.

"What can I do for Hawaii's finest?" he smiled.

"Drugs and lots of them, please," Danny replied.

"Detective," the nurse scolded playfully as he approached one of the man's IV's and started pushing buttons to release more pain medication. "Keep talking to me like that and the Commander here might think I'm your dealer." Steve laughed glad that Danny appeared to be in good hands.

"He can think what'er he wants," Danny said with a slight slur as the drugs started into his system. "M'the one in pain here... N'd stop... c'nt... sing… purple... ugh." This time the nurse and Steve shared a laugh together as Danny's eyes drooped and he drifted off to a narcotic induced sleep. After a second of the nurse watching to make sure the detective's vitals were steady, he turned to Steve and extended a hand.

"It's an honor sir," the nurse said. Steve, a bit surprised, shook the man's hand and smiled. "You don't know me but two years ago your team busted a jewelry store robbery and got all the hostages out safe; One of them being my 75-year-old grandma. I promise you up and down your man here will be well taken care of as long as I'm on watch." Smiling, Steve was happy to be reminded that there were people out there who appreciated what his team did regardless of where they were born and raised.

"Thanks Nurse...?"

"Ben Mokulele," the man replied.

"Ben," the Navy SEAL nodded handing over his card. "Call me Steve and call me if ANYTHING changes, I need to meet up with my team and catch the people responsible for this. As of this moment you're the man I come to if something happens to my partner okay?" The Hawaiian nurse gave a nod and tucked the card away in his pocket patting it down for safe keeping.

"Will do sir," he nodded firmly. Feeling a bit guilty but knowing Danny would want him to keep going with the case, Steve reluctantly headed for the door. At least he could take stalk in the fact that Danny's nurse, a sturdy built Hawaiian was ready and willing to help his partner should the need arise and until Steve could get back to him.

The SEAL had just reached the hospital doors when Chin pulled up in Steve's own truck without Kono. The look on the cousin's face was anything but promising.

"Hey, how's Danny?" Chin asked as Steve climbed in the passenger seat.

"Amazingly he'll be okay, thank G*d," the Commander said letting out a deep breath he'd been holding for hours. Chin nodded clearly grateful but still seemingly distracted. "What's going on?" Steve asked point-blank.

"The video, it was released two minutes ago," Chin said quietly. "Cyber-crimes alerted us and Kono detoured back to the office to check it out."

"Okay we knew that would probably happen," Steve said not quite understanding Chin's trepidation. "What aren't you telling me?" he asked. Chin paused and gave a look that only the Zen like calm man could give before carefully continuing.

"The video title is "Round One"," he explained. "The subtitle is; "Stay tuned for another "pig roast""." Steve's eyes went wide with anger and disbelief.

"These punks are upping their game to cops? Tourists and people who didn't look like them weren't bad enough?" he asked incredulously. Chin shook his head as he pulled into traffic again.

"Looks like they got a taste of something they liked," he replied with disgust. Steve seethed for a moment before narrowing his eyes in anger not just for his partner but for the police force, native or not, on Hawaii.

"Yeah, well they're about to get a taste of Five-0," the Navy SEAL snarled. "And I guarantee you it wont taste as nice."

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><p><strong>Yay! New multichapter! <strong>**Hope you liked the first chapter and you'll review/stick with me for more! **

**Heads up; if you thought the whumpage was over... you clearly haven't read my other stories. MWA HA HA!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Oz**


	2. Stopping At Nothing

**Hey! Wow, wasn't expecting as many people to review and or favorite/follow the first chapter but it gave me a huge burst of happiness to know that so many good people out there believe in the goodness of humanity. (Or a fun whump story either way! Lol)**

**You're all my heros and I hope this story does you justice! Be fierce my friends!**

**Oz**

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><p>By the time they got back to the office, Steve had managed to calm himself at least to a level-headed point. He knew getting angry wasn't going to help anyone just like he knew as a law enforcement professional he had to rise above. Still the image of Danny being hauled out of that dumpster like some sort of trash was burned into the Navy SEAL's mind and though he wouldn't let his rage take over, he would make sure the guilty were punished.<p>

Walking through the HQ doors Chin and Steve gave each other a look as Kono stood ramrod straight at the computer table staring at it like she didn't realize it had been there moments ago.

"You okay cuz?" Chin asked as the two men approached her. Kono looked up at them her eyes wide with sadness, fear and anger.

"I just finished watching the video," she said quietly. Steve sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You could have waited for us," he offered gently. Kono however just shook her head the woman was stronger than many gave her credit for.

"I wanted to get a head start," she replied. "The sooner we do, the sooner we find out who hurt Danny. Steve... this video is worse than the last one."

"They've been getting progressively worse," Chin supplied. "The first victim was only knocked around a few times before the group ran off. Almost like they're getting more confident in what they're doing."

"Or ballsy," Steve sighed. "These guys had to have seen Danny's badge before they chucked him in that dumpster. They knew he was a cop and they kept on going. Then they post it on the internet like there some sort of local heroes."

"You thought the other videos were bad," Kono said shaking her head. She queued up the website and went to the latest video only to pause just as she hit play. "If it's all the same to you guys..." When she trailed off, Steve knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Go take a break," he nodded. "Chin and I will watch and then we'll get down to business." With a nod and a spin of her heels, Kono disappeared into her office without looking back. Steve then turned to Chin and gave him a stern look; "You've watched the other video's all morning," he said offering the man an "out". Chin, ever the detective and friend stood taller.

"All the more reason to watch this one," he replied. Then he reached over and hit play.

This video, like the others before them was taken by someone who must have lain in wait for the groups next victim. The camera was night vision as all the videos had been due to the hours they were taken. Steve instantly recognized the coffee shop parking lot and set his jaw tightly knowing what he was about to see. Sure enough Danny appeared through the back alley balancing a tray of four coffee's as he fished through his pocket for his car keys.

Steve saw the first perp and knew Danny didn't stand a chance. One second his friend was up, the next the first attacker gave him a vicious punch to the back of the head. The coffee went flying as the Jersey detective fell to the ground and was instantly swarmed.

"There's more of them," Chin said calmly. Though his voice was level, Steve knew his teammate was struggling just as much as he was. He watched as the crowed of at least six, kicked, stomped and punched Danny as the detective curled into a ball and covered his head. After almost a minute, half the group ran off leaving three masked individuals and Danny squirming in pain on the ground. The biggest of the three guys picked up Danny only to suddenly drop him and point at something.

"They found the badge," Steve snarled. "You think they'd notice that before they beat the hell out of him." Curiously though as the video went on, one of the masked individuals jerked back a few steps and wrapped an arm around his waist. While the other two high-fived each other, that one's body language suddenly looked unsure and wary.

However when the two other figures turned on that one, he dropped his arms and helped them haul Danny's weakly floundering body toward the dumpster. One good heave and they tossed Danny inside like he was nothing more than a sack of rotten apples. Steve wanted to close his eyes and curse but for the sake of his partner he didn't. He was eternally grateful when he felt Chin's hand on his shoulder giving him a squeeze of sympathy.

When the dumpster top closed, two of the three perps ran off but not the last one. The timid one was still hesitating. It was only when the videographer in the bushes leapt out and ran at the lone man did the two run off together and the video cut out. Steve let out a breath thinking that was the end but suddenly the screen changed to black with words appearing as a deep mysterious computerized voice spoke;

"You have seen we are unafraid," said the voice. "Now you see there is no one to truly protect you. Not even the Governor's so-called Task Force is immune. Pele demands her Islands be left only to the natives. We will be lenient, hoale's have four days to leave the islands to her sons and daughters. Police, you have 24 before your kind, like one of your best here on this tape are sacrificed in the name of our ancestors blood. If you think we are not serious maybe this will convince you..."

Suddenly a still image of Danny's bruised and bloody face appeared on the screen with his full title "Detective Daniel Williams, Five-0". As soon as it appeared it vanished and the video was finally over. For a split second, Steve didn't know what to do with himself. Danny had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time but the video had made it look like they'd targeted the Five-0 detective on purpose.

"We need to find out who that last perp is," Chin said shattering into Steve's red-hot rage. The Navy SEAL looked at him and nodded.

"The one who was hesitating once he saw Danny was a cop," he agreed. "That's the guy we get, we flip and we take down this whole operation."

"I'll highlight his details from the last few videos and see if I can get anything that can tell us who he is," Chin nodded. Steve gave a sharp nod before putting his hands firmly on the computer table.

"No one messes with me, my family or anyone I care about on the islands Chin," Steve said with much certainty. "Understand?" Chin gave him a firm nod before heading off to his own office to get to work. As he did so, Steve turned back to the blank screen before him and silently wished he could un-see what he had just seen and trying to understand how anyone could still be so ignorant. Shaking his head, Steve decided there were something's in life even he couldn't understand. All he could do was follow Chin's lead and get to work himself.

**Queens Hospital Several Hours Later:**

Danny had woken up from heavy sedation minutes ago and was only slightly disconcerted that he'd slept for almost six hours. He'd also apparently been moved from one room to another and while he was sure he was completely safe in the hospital; as a detective he couldn't help but be bothered just slightly that so much had gone one around him and he'd been blissfully unaware.

Trying to take his mind of the slightly unsettling details, the Jersey native had started flipping idly through channels once Ben, his dutiful nurse, had given him the remote. As he was flipping away wondering what his team was up to and how long it'd be until he could rejoin them, Danny happened upon a news channel. His eyes grew wide and his mind went dumb as a picture of his bruised and bloodied face appeared with his name and position written underneath.

Ignoring his pain, Danny sat up and turned up the volume;

"As we can now confirm, Detective Williams has been admitted to hospital for trauma and the website "Aloha Kamai'aina Style" has released this video among other attacks warning foreigners to stay away from the Hawaiian Islands," the reported said. "Once again, links of several brutal beatings have come to light through this website. At the moment, H.P.D. nor Governor's office of his task force Five-0 have given any comment on the situation."

Danny's entire body tensed and he was mashing on the nurse call button just as a light started up from his cell phone indicating a call but unfortunately it was on the far side of the room. Ben was there in seconds and before he could say anything, the detective jammed his finger toward his cell.

"Phone!?" he demanded. Ben hopped too and handed off the phone and as quick as Danny could he answered not caring to see whose number. "Hello?"

"Danny?" Of all the voices Danny expected to hear, Stan Edwards' was not one.

"Stan?"

"Oh thank G*d, Danny… Grace and Rachel just saw the news and Grace is hysterical. I had to call you to see if you were alright." Danny closed his eyes and took a moment to silently vow to hunt down all the reporters and producers involved in that news segment and arrest them all for whatever reason he could find.

"Stan, I need you to put me on speaker close to Grace, please," Danny ordered.

"Done," Stan replied. For once, Danny was glad Stan was around and seemed to have a level head to not question but just do. A moment later, Danny heard his baby girl wailing away crying for her "Danno."

"Grace! Gracie! Baby I'm here! I'm okay!"

"Hear that Grace? It's Danny, your Danno, listen sweatheart," Rachel urged. A few huffs and sobs and the crying died down a bit.

"Danno?" said the gentle sweetest yet scared voice in the world. Danny was nearly overwhelmed with how much he loved that little girl and for a second just held the phone to his head. Thankfully, Ben had the good sense to grab his shoulder and give him a squeeze of support. Danny gave him a nod and took a breath.

"I'm hear monkey, I know what you saw may have looked bad but I promise you I've had worse okay? I was born in Jersey; if I can survive your mom's cooking I can survive anything right?"

It made his heart soar when he heart not just Grace's chuckle but sighs of contentment from both Stan and Rachel. Danny could have blamed it all on them at the moment and he was sure they would simply be glad Grace wasn't upset anymore and that Danny was alright.

"I want to see you Danno," Grace said. "I need to make sure you're okay."

"We all do," Rachel threw in. Sure things had been rough between Danny and his ex-wife but the detective knew she still believed in him as a good man who didn't deserve to be hurt like he had.

"Soon enough, I promise," Danny replied. Then he bit his bottom lip as he realized he'd been made a fool of on State tv, lord knows how far it had gotten off the islands due to this "website". "But you know what I do right Grace? You know I have to catch the bad guys so that-"

"-No one else gets hurt," his daughter replied for him. Danny smiled and would later blame any tears on his injuries. "Danno?"

"Yeah babe?" he asked.

"Will Uncle Steve and Uncle Chin and Auntie Kono be helping you?"

"Are you kidding me? Have you met my team? I'm surprised Uncle Steve hasn't burned the islands down by now!" Danny joked. Though he winced at the pull on his ribs and various other injuries, he made sure it didn't seep into his voice. "I don't just need to get the bad guys Monkey; I need to protect them from your Uncle Steve's madness." By now, Grace was in full-blown giggles which sounded like the tinkling bells of tiny happy faeries to a father's ears.

"I'm glad you're okay Danno," Grace said once the giggles died down. "I'll see you soon, promise?"

"I promise," Danny said. "Now can I talk to your mom for a moment?"

"Okay, love you Danno."

"Love you more." A shuffle later and soon Rachel's concerned voice came over the now private line.

"Daniel are you certain you're alright?" she asked. "That photo…"

"Was bad I know," Danny admitted. Honestly it had shaken him too but for the sake of his daughter, he reigned it in. "I'm just glad I saw it when Grace did so I could get to the phone. Look, Rach, I'm not looking to good right now so I think it's better if Grace stays away until I'm not so… well beat up okay?"

"I understand, but she won't want to stay away for long," Rachel said honestly.

"I know," Danny agreed. "I promise as soon as I can but Rach… I need to help get these guys; especially now that they-"

"Made it personal," the british woman lamented, the tight frustrated tone in her voice didn't go unnoticed either. "Believe me Danny, what this group is threatening, I can't think of a better man and team to stop them but I also know one of the reasons we split was because I know you just can not let things go."

"You want me to just let this go?" Danny asked incredulously.

"No I… that isn't what I meant," Rachel sighed. Danny could almost see her shaking her head and rolling her eyes in frustration like she always did. "I just want you to remember to think not just of your team and Grace but to think of yourself as well. You are allowed to simply REST Daniel and as I recall, you were never very good at doing that."

"It's because I'm too good at my job to let anyone else handle it," Danny replied unapologetically. "Give Gracie a hug for me and… uh… thank Stan for calling." There was a pause, undoubtedly one of surprise before Rachel replied.

"I will," she said. "Keep us informed if you can."

"I can and will." Danny hung up after final goodbye and then looked at his phone for a good solid 30 seconds.

"Everything okay Detective? Can I help?" Ben asked. Danny curled his fist around the cell phone angry at everyone and everything all at once and not even sure which reason he was angriest for.

"Call me Danny, Ben," he said. "And you can call me a cab." The nurse raised an incredulous brow but then folded his arms across his chest.

"Doc still wants you in the hospital for at least another 14 hours," he replied. "It's called overnight observation for a reason brah."

"Ben I like you, you seem like a nice guy… but I will go through you to get out of here and I'm not above using my own IV pole to smack you over the head," Danny replied. Then he took a breath, tried to look like everything didn't hurt and said; "I can't NOT help my team right now buddy, not after these animals made my daughter cry. You got kids?" Ben's face morphed from frustration to sympathy to understanding and Danny knew this man did have a kid, probably more than one judging by how much Danny's plea had so quickly gotten through to him.

The nurse rolled his eyes, shook his head then looked at his watch before looking Danny in the eye;

"Give me a half hour," he replied. "And I'll get you out of here without the doc killing us both." Leaning back into his pillow, Danny smiled triumphantly an nodded.

Forty five minutes later, Danny was feeling a tiny bit guilty as he was helped into passenger-seat of a beat up old sedan. Ben jogged around and climbed into the driver's seat after putting a large medical kit in the back seat.

"This was the condition?" Danny asked. Ben nodded as he started the car and zipped out of the parking lot and in to traffic.

"I'm your home nurse for the next 48 hours," the man replied with an unshaterabble smile. "Turns out Doc's a friend of one of the Governor's aids… an aid who's been calling every half hour to see how you were doing. You're a popular guy Danny! I was technically off for the next two days so when I volunteered they all agreed it would be okay to let you go with me at your side." The detective blinked as he pinched the bridge of his battered nose.

"You volunteered for a suicide mission... you do know that right?" Danny muttered. Ben just smiled as he stopped at a traffic light whistling happily and with no idea the frustration he was undoubtedly going to face in the near future.

However something about his unshakable nature made Danny chuckle to himself, it was inspiring. It was everything about humanity that needed to be protected at the moment.

Shaking his head, Danny happened to glance into his rear-view mirror were for a brief second, he could have sworn he saw a blue motorcycle that had been idly waiting in the hospital parking lot when they'd left. A blink later and the bike was gone but it still left an uneasy feeling in his gut.

"So where am I driving anyway? Where do you live?"

"You're not taking me home," Danny said sternly glancing in his mirror again. "Take me to the office… and before you start wining, you can help my partner bitch at me later for not resting. At least then I'll only have to sit through it once."

**Five-0 HQ:**

It took several hours but soon enough Chin, Steve and Kono were huddled around the computer table where the Hawaiian detective had gathered them moments ago.

"I almost thought I was imagining things," Chin said shaking his head. "But I've watched each video again and it was actually Danny's that made me certain there was something there."

"What do you got?" Steve asked. He himself had been going over all the witness reports trying to narrow down who could be responsible. So far, this gang of thugs had been pretty good about making sure no one could figure out who they were.

Chin queued up Danny's video once again and fast forwarded to the part where the three remaining thugs had started to drag the detective away. Seeing the video sent a surge of rage through Steve again and he found himself shaking his head and taking a breath.

"I know it's hard to watch," Chin sighed. The Navy SEAL opened his eyes and found Kono didn't look all that comfortable either. She did look determined however as did Chin. "I saw something when our hesitant perp snapped his hands back and enlarged it." The Hawaiian detective worked as he spoke bringing up that exact moment and then zooming in on the perps hand that was wrapped around his midsection.

With a bit of a squint, Steve saw it immediately. On the back of the perps hand there was the beginnings of a very intricate tattoo.

"A tat," Steve said out loud.

"There's nothing that says it's been the same gang of people through all the videos," Chin nodded but then pointed. "Except that hand tattoo shows up in every single one. This guy's been there from the beginning, he may not be the ring leader but he has to know who is."

"He's probably also got a record," Kono said as she took her turn fiddling with the computer table. "And tattoos are photographed when someone's arrested so if I can clean this up we can run it through a database and hopefully…"

"Find our guy," Steve nodded. "Do it, as quick as you can Kono. If these guys are serious we have less than 18 hours before HPD is officially a target."

"Then it's a good thing I'm here to help out." Steve, Kono and Chin whirled around to the front door where they were shocked to see Danny hobbling gingerly through the doorway with Nurse Ben Mokulele ambling along behind him.

"Danny!" Steve exclaimed. He managed to just beat the two cousins as he quickly grabbed a chair and rolled it toward his friend helping the man sit down next to the computer table. "So by 24 hour observation the doctor actually meant 24 minutes right? He sent you hear with your own private nurse so I'm going to go ahead and assume you did a jail break." Danny, wincing with every breath and every move, smiled none the less as he settled on the chair clutching his ribs.

"You need me, admit it," he wheezed. Steve chuckled and shook his head.

"Of course we do," he said. "But it'd be nice if you were in one piece and you…" he said looking at the nurse standing behind Danny. "… How did you get roped into this?" Ben smiled.

"Don't look at me Brah, I'm just doing my job," he replied. Danny gave the nurse a dirty "you're a traitor" look before turning back to his teammates.

"The Governor assigned me a friend," Danny grinned through his bruised face. "I picked up a stray at least for the next 48 hours. Can I keep him ma?" Steve snorted as he shook his head again, he knew his partner and he knew the man wasn't going to hear anything about going back to the hospital.

"Though this is nowhere near over with Daniel… we do happen to have just found a lead to distract me from reading you the very same riot act you've read me a million times over," Steve said. Danny nodded as he looked at the frozen image on the screen.

"Mmm, I saw there's a website for these morons?" he asked. All of his team-mates stiffened most notably; Steve. Danny shook his head; "Just because I was unconscious didn't mean the world decided to stop reporting news. By the way, all three of you owe Gracie the biggest party every for her seeing her beat up old man before she was told I was actually in the hospital." Now the three Five-0 members winced;

"We've been so caught up in trying to nail these guys down," Steve said innocently and truthfully. "I was also waiting until maybe you were able to talk to Grace yourself."

"Which would be correct," Danny nodded. "Had the news not gotten a hold of this information first. Please tell me someone's going to start tracking that reporter down."

"Count on it," Kono snarled. She dashed off into her office with a look of determination on her face.

"Unfortunately," Chin replied. "All the attacks have been clearly documented… including yours."

"Wonderful," Danny exaggerated. Then he looked at the screen before them, "That's the lead? That tattoo?"

"Yeah," Steve nodded. "During your… uh…" The Navy SEAL suddenly found himself pausing; the attack was so fresh and so new that it just didn't seem right talking about it like it was any other case. Danny clearly caught on to his team-mates awkwardness and raised an eyebrow.

"During my a** kicking? It's okay guys, I'm a big boy who got beat up," the detective said. "All it's done is make me want to stop these guys even more. Well that and make me want painkillers at steady regular intervals." Steven tried to smile, he did but knowing his friend was hurting was hard for him. Especially because he'd been the one to call his partner early in the morning that lead him to that coffee-house and ultimately into a world of hurt.

"Boys!" Danny barked. Chin and Steve jumped at the exclamation. "Let's keep going shall we?" Knowing the man was starting to show signs of frustration, Steve decided to back up his a partner as best he could.

"This guy hesitated when they saw your badge," Steve explained pointing at the tattoo. "We're hoping we can find him through the police database and maybe flip him on the others responsible."

"I like it," Danny nodded. Then he pursed his lips and looked off to the side. "Think I also remember someone saying they wanted to help me."

"Yeah?" Steve encouraged. Danny nodded as he absent-mindedly rubbed his tender ribs.

"They didn't want to go down for killing a cop," he explained. "We need to find that kid."

"Kid?" Chin questioned. Danny nodded.

"None of the voices sounded like they were older than mid twenties," he explained. "Since this case started I've gotten the feeling these aren't some old traditionalists, they're just a bunch of punks with poor parental guidance. I'm not even convinced they're all actually native Hawaiian." At that Steve jerked his head back and raised an eyebrow. He was still concerned for his friends wellbeing and still wasn't quite happy with the fact that the man had signed out well before his observation period was up but Danny's last statement had caught him off guard.

"What makes you say that?" he asked. Danny shrugged only to wince and grunt in pain, Ben was there before Steve could even move forward holding the detective steady.

"I'm good," Danny said after a moment of composure. He gave Ben's hand a pat indicating it was okay to let go. The nurse did so but only backed off an inch or so. "They're adrenaline junkies," the detective explained once he found his voice again. "They need a purpose in life and at one point or another they had a beef with someone from the mainland. Add a splash of sociopath and you've got a mob convincing themselves what they're doing is for the greater good of Hawaii."

"Idealists that really have no idea what they actually stand for," Chin nodded clearly getting on board with the idea.

"Great so finding them gets even harder because we can't pin them down to one group or another," Steve sighed. Just then the computer beeped and Chin brought up the close up picture of the tattoo as it rendered and became clearer.

Steve squinted at the thick lines and knotting that peeked out from the young hand.

"That's not Hawaiian," he concluded instantly.

"Nah that's Celtic brah," Ben piped up. Everyone, including Steve looked at the nurse in surprise with a raised eyebrow. The man in turn blinked and raised his hands; "Sorry, none of my business."

"No it's okay," Steve said. "Anything specific about it?" Ben shrugged.

"My girlfriend works at the Alo Moana Center, I go have lunch with her when I can and for the last little while there have been some kids that hang out in the eating area," he explained. "There's one who's always there kinda quiet, don't know why it's coming to mind but… I could swear that's the same tattoo. I mean who gets a tattoo on the back of their hand?"

"Well I'll be damned you're not just a pretty face after all," Danny said after the group let the shock of sudden information wash over them. Ben laughed and shook his head.

"I like you Detective Williams," he smiled.

"You're supposed to be calling me Danny," Danny replied with a smile. Ben gave a nod so Danny turned back to Steve with a shrug. "Okay so let's go check it out." Steve laughed, actually laughed.

"You're joking right?" he scoffed. "You shouldn't even be HERE buddy, let alone out of the hospital."

"I will not be left out of this Steve," Danny came back right away. "You're not the only one who has the governor on speed-dial."

"How about a compromise?" Chin said knowing the argument would never end if someone didn't intervene. "Kono and I go in as primary, you guys come in the Camaro and Steve only helps out if, IF we need it. Okay?" Steve didn't like the idea of his friend, so recently injured, being out in the field but he also didn't like the idea of letting the man out of his site even for a second.

"Deal," Steve nodded. Danny didn't look pleased in the least but a stern look from everyone around him and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he huffed. "But I keep my shiny new friend here with me. Eh Ben? You feel like playing detective?" Ben's eyes lit up and he gave an eager nod. It was Steve's turn to roll his eyes at Danny's apparent new sidekick but was glad there was a smile on the detective's face.

Steve and Ben made sure Danny was secure in the Camaro before Ben climbed in back fussing over the detective while the Navy SEAL headed for the driver's seat. He had one foot in the door when he happened to look up and see a blue motorcycle quickly zip past the parking lot and disappear down the street; admiring the expensive looking machinery but dismissing it as nothing special Steve hopped in the car.

"We ready?" he questioned more so worried about his partner than anything else, "Danny?" he seconded. The detective grunted in frustration then did his best to turn to the back seat passenger.

"Ben?" he echoed clearly avoiding Steve's question and the blatant concern.

"Morphine?" the nurse offered with a shrug. Steve burst out laughing, liking the local they'd picked up and headed out of the parking lot determined to finally put cuffs on someone ANYONE involved in this case.

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><p><strong>I was so happy with this chapter. I wont say why but I will say it builds the groundwork and I am giggling about what comes next... it just indulges the inner "whumper" in me.<strong>

**Stay tuned and I'd love to get some more reviews from new reviewers and my favs who've stuck with me through all my fics!**

**Love this site and all of you!**

**Oz**


	3. Oh Danny Boy

**Whooo hooo, I'm on a roll! Another chapter so soon after the last one! It's because I couldn't wait. I got to excited. **

**Oh and for those of you who noticed I apologize for the grammatical mistakes made in the last chapter. I was two glasses in to a bottle of wine when I finally posted it. In fact, I still miss a lot of things and I apologize for all my writing mistakes that I've made... ever. Lol Now that that's out-of-the-way let's get to the good stuff...**

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><p>Had Steve not been confident in Ben's abilities to be the medical professional he was, he probably would have noticed his partner flagging long before the nurse spoke up. They'd parked on the street closest to the Ala Moana shopping center open air restaurant area and had held up their end of the bargain by waiting in the car while Chin and Kono surveyed the area on foot and asked around with their tattoo photo in hand.<p>

That had been an hour and a half ago and it was coming up on dinner time. Amazing how much had happened in only one day.

"The doc said don't be a hero Danny," Ben suddenly piped up. For the most part Steve had been facing the center, his mind focusing on everyone and everything that went in and out of it. That and Steve was silently wishing he could be next to Chin and Kono showing that picture around. The problem was Danny was sitting on his other side so he couldn't keep an eye on both.

At the nurse's words Steve snapped his head around only to find Ben leaning over the seat, one hand on the Jersey detective's shoulder while Danny's face was pale and dripping with sweat.

"Danny? You okay?" Steve asked with worry.

"M'fine," Danny grunted. "S'just sitting in a car for this long ain't doing my ribs any favors."

"You should have stayed at the office," Steve sighed; Then he looked at Ben, "Should we head back?"

"No!" Danny barked then proceeded to curl in on himself slightly. "Just… I need some air and I'll be fine."

"I'm not asking you Danny, I'm asking your "shiny new friend"," Steve replied immediately.

"I'd say it's time to get him lying down," Ben answered honestly. "I can give him something for the rib pain but the best thing for him would be a couch at the very least." With a nod and fighting every urge to stay, Steve pulled out his cell and dialled Kono.

"Yeah boss?" she answered almost immediately.

"You get anything Kono?" Steve asked.

"Not yet boss," the Hawaiian replied with a sigh. "Had a few vendors recognize the tat but no one can give us a positive ID. Just met up with Chin and he's saying the same thing. Neither of us have eyes on a potential suspect yet." Steve sighed, so much for slapping cuffs on someone.

"Alright, Danny and I are heading back to the office. Why don't you guys hang around for another hour see if anyone shows up," he directed.

"Will do boss," Kono replied. "Do we get to charge dinner to the office?" she joked. Steve chuckled.

"Only if you're eating salad," he replied. However in response, his own stomach rumbled and before he could say anymore, Danny grabbed his cell phone and put it on speaker.

"Kono, bring us food before we go," he ordered. "Super SEAL's stomach is sounding like an angry bear and I'm pretty sure I need something in my stomach before Nurse Mokulele gives me my drugs."

"Actually that's just what I was going to suggest," Ben replied. Then smile and said; "That is if you don't want to be knocked out for several hours and seeing the aloha spirit in rainbow 3-D."

"Food first, office second," Steve concurred.

"Be there in ten," Kono replied. Hanging up the phone, Steve looked at his partner again who winced and shifted.

"You want to get out for a bit?" he asked.

"I do," Ben huffed. Both Steve and Danny gave him a look and he shrugged. "What? S'aint exactly a huge back seat brah, I'm used to spending all day on my feet." Chuckling, Steve climbed out of the Camaro and rounded the vehicle just Danny opened his own door to help the man out to a nearby park bench.

Once the man was seated, Ben pulled out a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff and set to work.

"Oh come on is that really necessary?"

"Doc's orders Danno," Steve smirked. He watched the nurse check out his friend and was happy to see an appeased look on the professional's face. When the SEAL looked up to see if he could spot Kono or Chin a flash of blue caught his eye. Frowning, Steve stood and once again saw the expensive looking blue motorcycle. "Huh," the Navy SEAL uttered.

"Huh, what? What huh?" Danny said as Ben finished up and replaced his supplies back into his bag. Steve watched the motorcycle at the end of the block and felt an odd niggling sensation rise up in his gut. The bike, plus rider was just sitting there, staring directly in his and Danny's direction. Unfortunately the riders helmet was completely black and was wearing gloves so there was no way to get any identifying features. All Steve could make out was that it was definitely the body of a male.

"Steve? What's up?" With on more look, Steve brought his gaze back to Danny and Ben who'd now been joined by Chin and Kono. All of them looked confused and concerned.

"It's nothing," Steve replied. He glanced over his shoulder only to find the motorcycle had vanished yet again. This time, Steve wasn't so sure he could brush it off but at the moment he was ready to cause his partner more worry or to distract his team from the task at hand.

"Well then let's get back to searching for our guy," Danny shrugged. Everyone looked at him with a raised eyebrow, nothing need be said. A second later, the detective worked his jaw and shook his head. "Right… you two should get back to searching," he lamented. Chin and Kono both gave the man a pat on his shoulder before taking their part of the food and walking back toward the main eating area.

As Steve drove them back toward the office he couldn't help but think of that motorcycle and wonder why it had gotten to him so much. In fact it stuck with him so much that he found himself constantly checking all the mirrors all the way back right up until they pulled into the parking lot. Thankfully, Danny and Ben were too distracted with the detective's well-being to notice Steve's growing paranoia.

Finally Danny was being helped out of the car while Steve, ever vigilant kept his eyes on the road. His heart nearly leapt into his throat as the same blue motorcycle appeared two blocks away.

"You know that's the second time today I've seen an expensive blue motorcycle," Danny said absent-mindedly as he rubbed his tender rib cage. That was all Steve needed, he sprinted the short steps back to the Camaro and practically leapt into the driver's seat.

"Get Danny inside!" he barked out to Ben. Without giving either of the, clearly stunned men a chance to reply Steve tore off in the direction of the motorcycle.

As expected the moment the rider knew he had Steve's attention, he spun his tires and zipped off down the city streets. The chase was wild and a few moments were hair-raising as the rider, clearly a very skilled one, would zip onto the sidewalk and nearly take out a few pedestrians.

The odd thing was, with the riders skill and nimble machine, Steve saw a number of opportunities where he could have easily lost the chase. As they continued to rip through the streets of Honolulu the Navy SEAL slowly drew the conclusion that his prey wasn't trying to get away, it was leading him somewhere.

Suddenly the bike zipped down an alleyway to tight for Steve to follow and forcing the Commander to slam on his brakes. As soon as he did he leapt out of the car and jogged partially down the alley way knowing it was a futile effort.

"Damn it," he huffed. With a sigh, Steve pulled out his cell phone and dialled Danny's number knowing his partner was probably desperate for an explanation.

"You bone headed knuckle dragging moron!" Danny barked breathlessly as soon as the line connected. "In what world does a man run off without any sort of back-up or without telling anyone, not even his partner, where he's going!? Where are you!?" Looking at the two brick walls on either side of him and glancing back to the parked Camaro.

"Not sure yet," Steve replied. "You said you saw that blue bike twice today?"

"Yeah," Danny said in confusion.

"Well so have I, three times and whoever it was just lead me into some alleyway," Steve explained. "I got close enough to know he didn't have a license plate." There was a pause and then Danny was back;

"You let a stranger lead you into a dark alley and you're still standing there? ALONE? Haven't you seen this movie before!? Get back in the car and get your butt back here so I can yell at you in-ugh…" His partner's pained grunt brought Steve's focus back to the fact that the man was injured.

"Y'okay partner?"

"No I'm not okay!" Danny shot back the pain clear in his voice. "My partner's trying to give me a heart attack and every inch of me hurts!" Steve chuckled which only served to frustrate his partner more. "You. Office. Now," Danny snarled. "Goodbye." A forced click was the only indication that the call had been ended so with a grin Steve put his phone back on his belt.

"Yes sir," the Commander chuckled. He turned to head back to the Camaro only to pause when he thought he heard a noise. It was the faintest of sounds and at first Steve wasn't even sure he'd heard anything. Still he waited, wondering if he was imagining things or not.

A beat later and Steve slowly took a step toward the car only to be stopped once again sure he'd heard something that sounded like, a moan?

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"H, help," said a voice barely above a whisper. Steve was moving a second later racing farther down the alley to the wall where it split in two different directions and where the guy on the bike had gone.

Right around the corner was where Steve found not just a badly beaten man but a badly beaten H.P.D. officer.

"Damn it!" Steve snarled. Quickly he got to the man's side and whipped out his phone. "Hang on buddy, hang on I'm going to get you help!" He barely barked out instructions to Danny to put a trace on his phone and send H.P.D. for an officer down before hanging up and returning to the barely conscious officer in his arms.

"P, please…" the officer choked through bloody lips. "M'wife… l, love'er."

"Hey now we aren't going there okay?" Steve urged. There was little he could do for the man knowing his wounds were far more than any medical training he had. The officer was broken for lack of a better word. Steve could visibly see several broken bones on his arms, legs, face and didn't doubt that wasn't all the man's injuries. It was bad, Steve knew it, this was very bad. "What's your name huh? Come on brah what's your name?" he tried to illicit a response.

"Sch, Schwartz," the officer slurred out. The one eye that wasn't bruised shut started rolling back and Steve knew time was of the essence.

"Well Officer Schwartz I promise you you'll be sipping Mai Tais in no time with your wife on the beach," the Navy SEAL tried. "Maybe take a nice vacation to Maui, how does that sound?"

"S'nds g, good," the officer wheezed. As soon as he did so however, he started squirming and clutching desperately at Steve's shirt.

"No, come on Schwartz, you gotta hold on okay? Hold on for your wife! Come on! Buddy help's coming! Stay awake you hear me? Schwartz!?" But the Commander knew it was a lost cause, he knew the moment he set eyes on the battered man. The officer twitched once, choked up a spatter of blood that hit Steve's upper body, then went limp, his hand dropping lifelessly to the pavement.

Going on autopilot while trying to ignore the violence of it all, Steve started CPR even though his mind was screaming at him not to waste the effort.

Forty-five minutes later, Steve sat on the hood of the Camaro as he watched H.P.D. crawl all over the area where they'd lost one of their own. Officer Mike Schwartz as Steve had found out a short moment ago, lay where Steve had left him growing cold under a yellow tarp. The paramedics had tried when they'd first arrived but they, like Steve, knew there was nothing to be done. Especially since they found Steve had been performing CPR for ten minutes before their arrival.

"Steve?" Tearing his eyes away from the scene, the SEAL came face to face with Chin-Ho. Farther away, Kono was talking to lead officer on the scene already collecting information.

"Yeah?" Steve croaked. He quickly cleared his throat and got to his feet. "Sorry, I forgot to call you guys we should start processing the scene for-"

"Steve, Kono's got this you know she'll have all the help H.P.D. can give," Chin interrupted. "I think you need to get back to the office and change." At first Steve had no idea what the man was talking about but then he looked down at himself and caught his reflection in the Camaro's windshield. He looked like something out of a horror movie.

His shirt, hands and half his face was covered in Officer Schwartz's blood and with the haunted look in Steve's eyes it only made it worse. Undoubtedly Chin caught on to his fatigue and shock.

"Come on, I'll take you back to HQ and Danny then come back here to help Kono," the Hawaiian detective offered. Steve didn't protest, he simply nodded and headed to the passenger seat.

Soon enough, Steve was showered and changed staring out his office window. When he'd gotten back to the office, Danny's eyes had gone wide with shock but then filled with sorrow as Steve told him what happened. Amazingly, instead of a rant telling Steve that's why you always make sure you have back up, Danny simply helped carry Steve's clean clothes to the showers and gave him a pat on the back.

"You with me big guy?" Turning around Steve gave a sigh as Danny hobbled into his office and gingerly sat down on his couch.

"Yeah," he said solemnly. "That bike lead me right too Schwartz, the rider knew he was there and instead of helping sent me on a wild chase… I almost didn't find him Danny."

"But you did and he didn't die alone," the detective replied. Steve just sighed and shook his head. "You did everything you could and H.P.D. knows that. His family will know that too."

"It wasn't enough," the Navy SEAL responded. Knowing he wasn't going to be able to talk Steve down from his self punishment, Danny just sighed.

"So lets keep going," he replied. "You may not have gotten a license but I've got a face." That definitely got Steve's attention, he drove his emotions down and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" Danny got to his feet with Steve's help and they headed out to the computer table. Ben was parked in Danny's office looking very much at home chatting on the phone. He gave the men a wave as they walked by before returning to his call.

"Give a guy an inch…" Danny muttered about his nurse. Steve gave a sad smile before they reached the computer and the detective brought up a freeze frame of the surveillance camera outside the office. After pushing a few buttons he brought up the blue bike and zoomed in on the black helmet.

All of a sudden Steve was staring into the young eyes of a man who he very much so wanted to meet.

"Running it through facial now," Danny replied. "Took me forever to find a frame where the light wasn't hitting the face mask so we could see his face."

"Good work," Steve nodded.

"I thought so," Danny replied barely managing a chuckle. It was clear the detective was flagging again despite having Ben give him a pain-killer recently.

"Go home Danny. In fact, go to my place so Ben can have space too," Steve urged. "Chin and Kono will be back soon and we'll keep going but you're starting to look like I'm going to have to take you back to the hospital." Danny gave him a "I frigging dare you" look before sighing and holding his injured hand to his tender ribs.

"Can't believe I'm saying this but yeah, barely keeping my eyes open right now," he replied. "Just for a few hours though, then I'm back. I want these guys Steve."

"You and me both partner."

Just then Ben came ambling out of Danny's office as if he had a sixth sense of what the two men had been talking about.

"Can I tear you away from phone call long enough to get a ride?" Danny asked.

"Talking to my girlfriend and the kids," Ben smiled like a proud father should. "I'm proud I didn't have to come out here and drag you home. Doc said you need a solid sleep tonight and made me promise to drug you if you refuse."

"I'd like to see you try," Danny snarled. "C'mon. Steve… take'er easy."

"You too Danno," Steve nodded. He watched the two men slowly leave the office waiting until they were out of sight before turning back to the anonymous face and narrowing his eyes. Definitely a man he wanted to meet.

**McGarrett Home:**

Danny grunted as he walked into Steve's house and quickly found the couch. Ben set down the medical bag and opened it up reaching for his stethoscope among other things.

"You know checking my blood pressure so much is actually making it go up, right?" he growled. Ben laughed and shook his head.

"It's been a stressful day," he replied. "Doc said-"

"Doc said, doc said, doc said," Danny repeated as Ben started laughing. "What do YOU say?"

"I say let me check it once more, give you a shot of antibiotics and painkiller then grab myself a beer," he replied.

"A man after my own heart," Danny smiled. He sat back and let Ben do his thing. Two shots later and Danny made himself comfy on the couch while Ben helped pull a blanket over his body.

"You sure you don't want to be in a bed?" he asked.

"What the point, you're going to wake me two hours aren't you?" Ben shrugged with a nod and a grin before smugly saying;

"Doc's orders." It hurt but Danny let out a hearty laugh before settling back into the cushions.

"Go get your beer," he smiled as he let the drugs pull his already tired eyes shut.

"Yes sir," was the last thing he heard Ben say.

Waking up was a rude and violent affair. Danny had believe himself safe in his Navy SEAL partner's home with a nurse a stones throw away. He'd let himself believe it was okay to fall in to a dreamless sleep and rest so he'd be stronger the next day.

Apparently, he was wrong.

Ben's sharp call of warning was all Danny got before hands ripped him off the couch and threw him to the floor. The detective's first thought was "not again" and was ready to fight only to have the cold metal of a gun pressed to his head.

It took a few moments for the stars of pain to fade and a few breaths before Danny could was actually aware of what was going on. He'd been forced to his knees right there in the living room and facing him a few feet away was Ben in a similar position. Only Ben had a nasty gash on his cheek and looked absolutely terrified.

"You hurt him and I kill you all," Danny snarled. As far as he could tell there were three of them, the one with a gun to his head, the one with a gun to Ben's head and a masked man standing in between.

"All you have to do is read, detective," said the man in between them. A piece of paper was shoved into Danny's hand as man who just spoke had the audacity to pull out a camera.

"Go to hell," the detective snarled not even bothering to look at the paper crumpling it instead. A sharp blow to his shoulder tumbled him to the floor jarring his ribs.

"Don't hurt him!" Ben shouted.

"Shut up!" The gun man behind the nurse shouted as he dug the gun into Ben's shoulder blades and grabbed his hair. "You're just as bad helping the stupid hoale!"

"Enough," the man with the camera said with disturbing calm. Danny was hauled up right again barely able to take a full breath as the paper was once again put in his hands. Two brown almost black eyes were suddenly inches from Danny's face, a black mask framing the murderous look. "Read the paper and we leave you be, refuse and your friend gets shot in the leg. Refuse again, he gets shot in the gut… refuse again and-"

"I get it!" Danny spat. By now Ben's eyes were filled with so much fear he looked about ready to cry.

"Good," the evil masked man said. He stood up, took a step back and turned on the camera. "Read." Danny swallowed the urge to fight back, knowing he had to think not just of his own big limitations but of Ben's well-being as well.

As soon as he started reading the piece of paper, he felt sick to his stomach knowing all the world would eventually see it.

"My name is Detective Danny Williams and the H.P.D lost one of their own today because…" Danny swallowed the sickness but was forced to continue when the man behind Ben cocked his gun causing the nurse to whimper. "Because the Governor of Hawaii has put the islands safety in the hands of foreigners. If those without Hawaiian blood do not listen to our warning…" At that Danny had to stop as his anger was too much. He glared at the man with the camera.

"Warning?" he spat. "You beat the crap out of six people before you said anything about what you actually wanted! You're just a p-" The smack came fast and hard and this time it was unfortunately to his already tender head. This time when Danny dropped to the floor, blackness threatened to over take him. He lay there on the ground forcing himself to breathe, forcing himself to stay awake, for Ben's sake as well as his own. If he passed out there was no telling what would happen.

Two strong arms hefted Danny upright and threw him back into the chair. This time the gun was jammed into his temple, the adrenaline surge of being moments from death clearing his vision.

"You think anyone's going to take your side? Do you really think people will see this video, a cop with a gun to his head and think "hey these nut jobs have a point"?"

"What they think isn't important," replied the dark-eyed man. "What they DO is… Just like what you do NOW is." As if to accent the man's point the gunman behind Ben grabbed his hair, jerked the nurses head back and pressed the gun to his throat. Ben just closed his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"P, Please… I've got kids."

"Children who's lives we are trying to make better," the dark-eyed man explained. "Even if it does mean your death to prove a point. Shoot him."

"Wait!" Danny barked as Ben wailed in fear. "I'll do it! I'll finish it! Don't hurt him!"

"When you're ready," the dark-eyed man said as if Danny had a choice. With a snarl Danny squinted past the pain to focus the paper in front of him.

"If those without Hawaiian blood do not listen to our warning more officers will die. To the other members of Five-0..." Danny's eyes widened at what he was about to read next but didn't dare hesitate for Ben's sake. His attackers were looking antsy. "To the other members of Five-0, I am going to be your lesson in respect."

Suddenly the paper was ripped out of Danny's hands and a syringe was jammed into his thigh. Now it was his turn to yelp in protest and pain before he was bodily hauled to the floor and ducked tape around his hands and wrists. Ben was given the same treatment before they were both blindfolded.

"Lets go," said the dark-eyed man.

Once again Danny was left listening to disappearing footsteps which was almost drowned out by the pounding of his heart in his own ears.

"Danny!? Danny are you okay? Talk to me detective!"

"M'hurtin'," Danny slurred. The adrenaline was dying away as was his ability to feel any part of his body. The shock was kicking in and lord only knew what he'd just been stuck with. In any case; he stopped trying to struggle as he felt Ben's restrained hands trying and check his pulse.

"Hang on, Danny! Hang on!" The pleas were the last thing the detective heard as he took Rachel's advice and simply let go.

**Five-0 HQ**

"Steve!" The Navy SEAL snapped his head up as Chin came running from his office his eyes wide which wasn't normal for the normally stoic Hawaiian. After he and Kono had returned to the office the three of them had launched themselves into their work not caring how late it was getting. So far they'd all been working on their own leads while Kono had set up an interview with the reporter guilty of airing Danny's picture for the next day.

The trouble was every time they started really getting into one crime scene, they had another one pop up and they had new information, new details and the old scene's had to be reanalysed again. It was frustrating and now was even worse with H.P.D. demanding answers into the death of one of their own.

But now it seemed like the work was coming to a grinding halt.

"What? What's wrong?" he demanded.

"H.P.D. just called, units have been dispatched to your address," the Hawaiian said. On cue, Steve's cell phone rang and he ripped it off his belt as he ran toward the door.

"Keep working I'll call you when I know something!" he ordered. "Hello?" he demanded answering his phone.

"Steve, Duke here, figured you'd want a familiar face on scene," the veteran officer said calmly. Steve took a breath as he flew down the steps and burst through the front doors making a b-line for his truck.

"I appreciate it Duke," Steve said as he moved. "Danny and a nurse Ben Mokulele where staying at my place. Please tell me they're okay." There was a long pause that slowed Steve's pace a little.

"And they made it here? You're sure?" Duke replied ominously. Steve froze with his keys in the ignition, his heart ratcheting up a notch.

"Duke… I got a text from Ben when they arrived hours ago," he said. "They're not there?"

"I'm sorry Steve, there's no one here."

For a moment, Steve didn't even know what to do. He looked out his window up the street and down. Where would he start? Where could he or should he start?

"Where'd you go Danny?" he whispered into the cool night breeze of his open window.

* * *

><p><strong>MWA HA HA HA... But wait... when Danny passed out, he was still at Steve's and the bad guys were leaving... where DID or detective and Ben go? He he he. Stay tuned and also to find out how Danny is a "lesson in respect" for the other Five-0 members.<strong>

**Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuh...**

**I'd love reviews/favorites/follows! Thanks to everyone who's reading regardless!**

**Oz**


	4. Brothers and Family

**Yahoo! Thanks for all the reviews so far and follows and fav's... I love knowing people are reading my story born from a crappy situation in my real life!**

**Here we go again and I hope people don't mind my minor O.C. characters I like to keep the core characters as close to natural as I can. I do love my core Five-0 team!**

**Enjoy!**

**Oz**

* * *

><p>"Commander McGarrett?" Steve looked up from his desk and raised an eyebrow at the man standing in his door way.<p>

The night before had passed with very little sleep and a whole lot of short fuses. After trying to figure out priorities in his truck, Steve had finally decided to head to his place to see what was going on. Walking through his front door nearly made him sick as he saw spatters of blood and broken furniture. His alarm system had been hacked and it looked like Danny and Ben hadn't stood a chance against their attackers. As crime scene had been going over every inch of his place, Steve had done his own poking around and found a crushed syringe that he quickly bagged and sent to the lab for analysis.

That had been several hours ago and Steve was about to go down to the lab and start throwing his weight around. If he could get away from his desk that was. Phone call after phone call had been coming through from various different people with information, with questions, with comments and without Danny, Steve was the phone who had to field the calls leaving the investigation work to the cousins. It was getting to a point that he was actually feeling bad each time he walked into their offices with one more thing for them to look into. But then he'd remind himself Danny was somewhere out there, injured and they were on more than one clock at the moment.

One of the calls was to Rachel and Stan letting them know Danny was missing but that they should probably hold off telling Grace until they had more information.

After that phone call Steve knew personal lives would have to wait.

"Can I help you?" Steve said a bit curtly. The man before him was as thin as a rake yet towered almost 6'3" and had to be the palest person in existence on the Islands of Hawaii. He had short brown hair and sharp wide blue eyes that made his already thin face appear that much thinner.

"Raleigh Schwartz I'm with the cyber-crime unit," the tall man introduced. The last name instantly had Steve on his feet as suddenly the man's blank expression made a lot more sense.

"Schwartz as in..."

"Yeah," Raleigh replied. "Mike Schwartz' little brother; being a cop runs in the family."

"Ah man," Steve said rounding his desk and extending his hand which was accepted willingly. "I'm sorry for your loss. If I could go back..."

"We can only go forward," Raleigh said shaking his head. "From what I heard you tried your best, thank you for being there for my brother." Steve shook his head and opened his mouth to say more but the cyber-crime officer shook his head. "Look Commander, I just spent the last several hours grieving with family, browbeating my superior and fighting off a couple dozen other officers to get put on this case so if you don't mind I'd like to get to work catching the monsters responsible for killing Mikey. Can we do that or are you are and I going to have a problem?" Steve opened his mouth but yet again was cut off when Raleigh narrowed his eyes, "So help me if you even UTTER "conflict of interest". You've got a missing man, your partner, and you're still working HIS case," he spat.

"I was going to say welcome aboard," Steve said once he was sure he wouldn't get interrupted again. "If there's anything this case needs its someone who wants this as much as I do and deserves it even more." As expected, Raleigh Schwartz's shoulders almost instantly dropped his hardened face easing a bit as he shook his head. It was definitely the look of a man who'd been on the defensive for several hours while attempting to understand his grief.

"Sorry Commander, think you can imagine I haven't gotten much sleep," he replied.

"None of us have or will until these perps are brought to justice, I promise you that," Steve nodded. "And call me Steve."

"Steve," Raleigh repeated with a nod. Clearly in trying to understand his grief the man was very similar to Steve in a sense of throwing himself into his work. He pulled a USB key out of his pocket, "A few hours ago cyber finally managed to shut down the website and are keeping are eye out for anymore like it. We're also in the process of tracking the IP address to see if we can find it's origin but it was bouncing off several different towers so it could take a while."

"Well at least the sites down," Steve nodded. "What else do ya got?"

"Two new videos were posted seconds before we shut the site down," Raleigh explained. Steve winced.

"You're brother?" he asked. The officer's face paled a bit, which was quite the feet, and he nodded but said nothing on the subject.

"The other one is why I'm here," Raleigh kept going. "Well that and to be more involved in this case... it's about Detective Williams." Steve straightened up and took the USB key from the cyber-crime officer as if it could some how produce the missing detective.

"Follow me," he said. He guided the man out of his office toward the computer table waving Chin and Kono to come join them.

"We got something?" Kono asked as she and Chin arrived. They both glanced at the new comer curiously.

"Guys this is Raleigh Schwartz with cyber-crime, he's going to be helping us out," Steve introduced. "Raleigh, Detective Chin-Ho Kelly and Officer Kono Kalakaua." Once pleasantries and condolences were out of the way, Steve put the USB key into the computer table while Raleigh explained to the cousins what he'd found.

Steve knew they'd need to see the video of Schwartz beating but that was something he would leave for his team to do another time. Clearly, simply skipping over it was the right thing as he got a nod of thanks from the dead officers brother.

Watching the video of Danny being forced to read a message with a gun to his head made Steve's face red with anger. It had clearly been edited at points as one moment Danny was on the floor starting to protest and the next he was seated in a chair looking seconds away from passing out. When Danny said he was going to be "Their lesson" Steve tensed up. When the needle was stuck into Danny's thigh, Steve's eyes went wide and his fists clenched.

"Those sons a b****es," he snarled. The message in simple font at the end of was simple; "Hoale's will watch the detective wither and die knowing they are to blame for angering the goddess Pele." When the screen went blank Steve pinched the bridge of his nose fighting the headache that was threatening there.

"I've gone over this video twice and something isn't adding up," Raleigh said. Part of Steve was glad the man was there as he and the cousins were probably too angry to think straight at the moment.

"What do you mean?" Chin asked. First one to tame his rage as usual.

"They say we'll witness his death," Raleigh explained. Steve looked at him and shrugged.

"And?"

"And, where IS he?" the cyber-crime office replied waving his hands through thin air. "How are we supposed to watch him if he's not here?"

"Are we saying the people that took Danny aren't necessarily the ones who made the video?" Kono asked.

"At the end of the video, after they duct tape them up, the camera turns toward the front door," Raleigh explained. "I freeze framed it and he moves toward the door as well. They left them to be found."

"And some one else found them," Chin finished. "But who?" With perfect timing the computer pinged and Kono brought up the face of their mystery motorcyclist. Except the man wasn't a mystery anymore.

"Jesse Palaumalei'lei," Kono read the information out loud. "18 years old, ward of the state recently released from foster care and has a few juvenile misdemeanors but nothing to serious."

"We got an address?" Steve asked.

"Only one on file is his last foster home," Kono nodded as she kept skimming the information.

"Send it to me so I can check it out," Steve nodded. He started toward the door only to pause as his inner-Danny screamed at him "Where the hell are you going without back-up Steven?" He turned back around to the three others in the room. "Chin what are you waiting on?"

"Word from Tox about whatever Danny was injected with on that video and I should analyze the footage of the last two videos," he replied. Raleigh winced at that and shuffled uncomfortably.

"Kono?" Steve asked.

"I was just about to head over to Max to see if he has anything for me yet," Kono replied. Again, Raleigh shuffled but then he looked Steve in the eye.

"I may sit at a computer all day but I'm still a trained police officer," he said. Then frowned and looked at the floor; "I can't be in this office when he watches that video Commander."

"You're with me then," Steve nodded in understanding. "Lets go."

The first thing Steve did as they pulled up to Jesse Palaumalei'lei former foster home was check his weapon. He wasn't about to run into a house full of traumatized kids, waving his gun around and demanding answers but he wasn't going to let Jesse blind side him if the young man was still hanging around. One look to his passenger and Steve suddenly wasn't so sure about bringing Raleigh along. The man's eyes were narrowed with rage as his hand rested firmly on his gun belt.

"Hey," Steve said a bit loud to draw the man out of whatever he had going on in his head. The trouble cyber officer looked at him questioningly. "Whatever's running through your head right now ignore it," Steve commanded. "We're going in there to ask questions not to have a stand-off at high-noon with a bunch of parent-less kids, get it?"

"Mikey had his first kid three weeks ago," Raleigh snarled. "Forgive me if I'm less than sympathetic to some punk who left my brother to die in an alley."

"I understand you're suffering right now," Steve said calmly. The officer opened his mouth but this time it was Steve's turn to cut him off. "And I'm sorry, especially because this should be a happy time for your family rather than the worst moments of your life. But I NEED you to understand the only way we can bring these guys down is if we do things the right way. Do I need to leave you in the truck?" For a second, Steve honestly thought Raleigh was going to say yes and would stay put but then the officer sighed and shook his head.

"I'll be good," he replied. "Let's just do this." The two men climbed out of Steve's truck and headed toward the door of the quaint Hawaiian home. Two knocks later and a child looking barely old enough to open doors appeared in front of them. When he saw the two towering men the small boy went wide-eyed in wonderment.

"Cool! You're McGarrett! I've seen you on the news!" the kid squeaked. Steve had to smile at the innocence and gave Raleigh a quick glance silently wondering if the man was now glad they didn't kick in the door. Raleigh just gave him a raised eyebrow. Turning back to the child, Steve knelt so they were at the same level.

"So what's your name partner?"

"Troy and I'm five!"

"Troy!? Where are you keiki?" A kind voice called out.

"At the door Auntie Leyla, Five-0 is here!" Troy called out. He zipped off only to be replaced by an older Hawaiian woman with weathered features but a soft look in her eye that just screamed "Mom".

"Hi Ma'am I'm Commander Steve McGarrett and this is Officer Raleigh Schwartz, we're wondering if you could tell us where we could find Jesse Palaumalei'lei?" The woman raised a sharp eyebrow.

"And why exactly are the police looking for him?" the woman replied almost immediately. Steve instantly knew this woman was ready to protect her kids even if they were adults and had moved on. She also seemed like the kind of woman to give them up if she felt they had truly done something wrong; which was curious considering.

"He's a person of interest in a case we're working," he replied. "We just have a few questions for him." Leyla raised an eyebrow, looked Steve and Raleigh up and down as if deciding whether to say anymore.

"Please ma'am," Raleigh said with a surprisingly gentle tone. "We only want answers." Whether it was the emotion in his voice or the engrained sad look on his face, those words seemed to give them the entry they needed.

Now it was up to Steve to get the rest.

**SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC:**

It was the soft rocking that gently lulled Danny back to the waking world. A gentle roll this way and he grunted and shifted. A gentle roll the other way and his brain finally put together he needed to wake up and find out what was going on. It was the not so gentle roll that tossed him in the opposite direction that thumped his bad hand and send an adrenaline shot of pain that forced his eyes open.

At first he struggled to bring the area into focus but no sooner had he done so did he come to an odd conclusion.

"W'on a boat?" he slurred. He started slightly when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Yeah we are brah, how do you feel?" Blinking back the last vestiges of blurry vision, Danny finally managed to turn his head only to find Ben, wide-eyed with worry and fear.

"Ev'thing hurts," Danny replied honestly. The nurse let out a nervous laugh that definitely sounded like it had relief amongst the fear.

"At least you're alive," Ben chortled. Danny gave a tired nod, couldn't argue that logic.

"What happened?" he asked clearing his throat. Thankfully Ben offered him some water and it was only then Danny realized Ben's hands were hand cuffed together. To that end, Danny realized his own good arm was cuffed to the side of the galley they were in. "Guessing rescue is still pending," he huffed. Ben finished giving Danny a few more sips before he sat back and shook his head.

"I couldn't get you to wake up man," Ben sighed. "I tried to get free once those jerks ran off but I couldn't. I'm sorry."

"S'not you're fault," Danny smiled. "You okay?"

"Few scrapes and bruises but I'll live," Ben returned his gesture in kind. Truth be told, the galley they were in was poorly lit and was just small enough to be uncomfortable for the detective. To that end, in his condition, having a friendly face by him was a welcome thing. Danny sat up a bit with Ben's doting hands and breathed through the pain for a moment. When it was finally at a tolerable level, he looked around the small area. "So how'd we end up on a boat?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Ben replied with a shrug. "'bout ten minutes after we were left alone someone came into the house. I thought it was McGarrett and started calling for help. Next thing I know someone sticks me with a needle and I'm out cold. I wake up here my hands cuffed and my ankle chained to the boat with a gun pointed at my head telling me to give you an injection." The adrenaline surge finally reached Danny's brain and he looked at the nurse curiously.

"Another one?" he barked.

"Yeah but I don't think whoever's driving the boat wants to hurt us Danny," Ben said with a shrug. "I mean, yeah he abducted us, knocked me out and put a gun to my head..."

"Real humanitarian," Danny scoffed. Ben smiled but shook his head.

"Danny, I could barely find your pulse," he said honestly. "I thought... I thought for sure you were dead and he's telling me to stick you or you'll die so... I did." Danny thought that over for a moment then shrugged.

"Well considering, sounds like it was the right thing," he replied. "I feel like hell but... I can breathe now. This guy give you anything else?" Ben shook his head then sat back and ran his restrained hands through his hair. It was obvious they were shaking badly and Danny didn't blame the man in the least. "Hey," Danny said as calmly as possible.

"Yeah?" Ben asked trying to hide his tremors of fear.

"You have met McGarrett, correct?" Danny asked. Ben frowned in confusion but nodded.

"What about him?"

"Odds are he's already burned down half the islands to find us," Danny replied with much certainty. "If whoever has us now went to the trouble to keep me alive, to keep YOU alive to help me, I think we're safe for at least a little while. Okay? We're going to be okay Ben." The nurse took a shaky deep breath but then managed to stop shaking quite so much.

"Okay," he nodded. Then noticing Danny was licking his lips Ben brought the bottle of water forward again. The detective was mid sip when the engines that had been humming away stopped abruptly bathing them in silence. Ben opened his mouth to say something but Danny shushed him. A second later and with the click of a lock, the upper part of the hatch opened. It wasn't enough to escape through but it was enough that a bag could be tossed through.

Both Ben and Danny found themselves staring dumbly at Ben's medical bag that he'd been carrying with him since they'd left the hospital. The rest of the hatch open as Ben snatched up his medical bag and dragged it farther from the stairs when a masked figure came down his gun pressing into Ben's head the moment he hit the last step.

"Hey!" Danny called up ignoring the pull on his ribs. "You want to take it easy with that thing? Maybe tell us where we're going?"

"He going to live?" the masked man asked.

"He needs a hospital, and whatever he's been stuck with I need to kn-" The gun was jammed into Ben's head even more.

"All I asked was if he's going to live," came the question again.

"I'd be better if you told us what the plan is here," Danny cut in hoping to spare Ben anymore pain and fear. However as the boat rolled a small patch of light caught the man's eyes and the detective's mind started reeling. It took him a split second but he recognized that dark gaze from the blue motorcycle rider from the surveillance footage. "You left a cop to die and now you're helping me?" Danny couldn't help but blurt out.

The figure jerked back, from his waist he pulled out a knife and slit a fine line into Ben's arm. The nurse hissed and cursed but froze again as the gun was yet again pointed at his head.

"Hey! That wasn't necessary!" Danny barked.

"I'll tell you what's necessary, hoale," the man hissed. "Now you I need to keep around, him..." he said shoving Ben with the gun again."He's expendable. So just shut up and don't bother me with stupid questions no more."

"Okay, okay!" Danny said seeing just how frightened Ben was getting. "You're the tough guy with the gun, where do we go from here?"

"No where," the man replied. "You stay here. I'll come get you when it's safe." It took a split second for Danny to realize what the man was implying and he did his best to start struggling.

"You can't leave us here!" he squawked. "We need food and water and ungh..." Danny's injuries didn't take to kindly to his frantic movements and sharp pain blinded him to all else. He felt Ben's hands on him but felt like every time he moved, it set of a chain reaction of pain all over.

By the time he could see clearly again and breath as best he could with damaged ribs, their captor was up the stairs and closing the hatches again.

"You have enough in the bag," he called down. Just as he was closing the second hatch Danny heard a cell phone ring before they were plunged into minimal light once again. The boat walls were tight but sounded sturdy and with the waves rocking them back and forth, no one would hear their cries unless they were inches from the boats hull.

"Danny?" Ben croaked nervously.

"We'll be okay Ben," Danny said through grit teeth. "I promise we'll be okay."

Now if only the detective could convince himself those words were true.

**INSIDE JESSE PALAUMALEI'LEI'S FOSTER HOME:**

Hundreds of miles away, Steve McGarrett gave Auntie Leyla a nod of appreciation as he listened to the first few rings over the woman's cell phone. She'd dialed Jesse's number and put it on speaker.

"You're doing the right thing," he said to her. "We just want to talk to him that's all."

"Yeah?" said a voice finally answering. Curiously, Steve swore he could hear the sounds of the ocean in the background, clearly this Jesse kid was on the water or at a dock somewhere.

"Jess, its Leyla."

"Aloha Auntie; Troy staying out of trouble?" Steve glanced at Raleigh, the voice on the phone didn't sound like someone who'd leave a police officer to die.

"So far," Leyla smiled sadly. "And when are you going to visit for supper? Hmm, it's been so long."

"I know Auntie," Jesse said with a heavy sigh. "I'm uh... I'm kind of busy with something but I'll see you in a few days yeah?" When Steve and Raleigh both stood taller the kindly lady rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Actually keiki... I need to talk to you about something," she said. "The police came by the house and... I'm worried about you. Can you spare ten minutes for your old Auntie?" There was a long pause followed by a grunt and a shuffling sound; in the background a seagull screeched out.

"Was it Five-0?" Jesse asked. Steve jerked his head back, if that question didn't show some guilt, he didn't know what could. Auntie Leyla looked startled as well and met eyes with Steve her concern evident as he gave her a nod.

"Yes, a Commander McGarrett," she replied. This time the pause lasted so long, Steve almost thought the kid had hung up but then finally a response.

"I'll be there in a few hours," Jesse said quietly. "I'm just out fishing."

"I'll see you then Jess, Aloha."

"Aloha." When the phone line was cut, Steve took a breath; hopefully this kid might have some answers as to where Danny and Ben were. If nothing else, the kid knew something of what was going on and the Navy SEAL intended to find out what.

"Thank you," he said to the older woman.

"I know I've said this but Jesse is a good boy," Leyla reiterated. Her kind eyes seemed to plead with Steve for understanding. "If he's involved with what you say he is... I know he didn't do it by choice. He's had a tough run of things and if you attack him he'll only react badly. Very badly." Before Raleigh could open his mouth, a clear need to protest in his eyes, Steve cut him off. He'd listened to the story the woman had told of Jesse's beyond troubled childhood. A single kid raised with two parents who worked day in and day out until his mother was taken over by addiction.

The father, unable to handle the situation abandoned his young five-year old son. It left the boy to suffer at the hands of his abusive mother until his ninth birthday when finally, social services stepped in.

"We're not in the business of scaring kids that may be a little rough around the edges, ma'am," he replied. "I promise you I'll do everything I can to help Jesse and hopefully he's willing to help us back okay? Does that sound fair?" Auntie Leyla took a breath but then nodded and extended her hand to the Commander which he took willingly.

"I can see you're a kind soul Commander McGarrett," she said. "I don't just believe you, I trust you."

After saying goodbyes for the moment, Steve and Raleigh returned to his truck. The moment they were inside, the cyber-crimes officer turned to the Navy SEAL and gave him a stern look.

"Just because you want to save the world McGarrett, doesn't mean it's worth saving," he said. Steve did up his seatbelt and then looked at the man.

"I heard you when you asked that woman for answers Raleigh," he said. "And I do promise you answers. I know you've got the heart of a good officer like your brother." Suddenly the pale officer looked a little uncomfortable but Steve went on. "I also promise you justice because I want exactly the same for Danny and Ben but honestly right now something does not smell right. This Jesse kid, it's been two easy to find him and if he does walk through that door later today it'll be to easy of a catch. Does that sound like the type of 18 year old who would be able to single handedly take-down your veteran police officer brother?"

"No," Raleigh snapped angrily. "But don't play dumb and think he's innocent in all this. You heard him pausing and asking if it was Five-0. That kid knows something."

"And I intend to find out what it is," Steve nodded agreeing with the officer. "But I need your help Raleigh; I need you to figure this all out." After a moment, Raleigh rolled his eyes, shook his head and did up his own seatbelt.

"I don't know how Williams has been partnered with you for so long," he grunted. "You talk way to damn much." Letting out a hearty bellow of a laugh at that ironic comment, Steve was about to pull the car onto the road when his cell-phone rang. Seeing Chin's face and hoping for information the Navy SEAL answered it immediately.

"Chin whadya got?"

"Steve…" The disturbingly calm yet dark tone of his teammate instantly had Steve on alert as he put his truck back into park.

"Chin what, what is it?" he demanded.

"Lab results just came back from the swab done on the fragments of that broken syringe you found at your place," Chin replied.

"And?" Steve asked with his patience running thin.

"It was filled with a natural but potent neurotoxin derived from a plant native and only found in the remote parts of the island of Kauai," Chin explained. There was a pregnant pause that Steve's steadily increasing heart rate didn't have time for.

"So? And? What Chin? What aren't you telling me?" he barked.

"Its Hawaiian name translates loosely to what the European settlers eventually called it which is "The 1,2,3"," Chin explained. A heavy, heavy sigh followed before the man added, "It's called that because it usually kills within three hours of exposure, there's no known cure… Steve…"

For a moment Steve's mind went dumb with the implication of what Chin was telling him and exactly how long Danny had been missing. The math swirled in his head and it computed to nothing he could accept. He swallowed convulsively for a moment before giving Raleigh a look and then turning back to his phone.

"No," he said certainly.

"Steve…" his Hawaiian teammate tried again.

"NO Chin," Steve barked back. "You keep looking for any and all leads as to where Danny and Ben might have been taken. We're going to find them and we're going to bring them home and screw anyone or anything that gets in my way! Danny is NOT dead until I see a body! Clear!?"

"I hear you Steve," Chin said as if his boss's word was G*d given law. "I'll keep working. See you soon."

"Yeah," Steve said and hung up without saying goodbye. Later he would realize the need to apologize for snapping at Chin and also thank the man for not even batting an eyelash at his outburst.

Taking a breath to calm himself, the Navy SEAL looked up to his current driving partner and was a little surprised to find Raleigh grinning back at him.

"What are you smiling at?" he demanded.

"Sounds like you're finally talking my language McGarrett," the officer smiled. Then he sat back, his body posture much more relaxed than moments ago. "Let's go get your brother back and solve this case for Mikey."

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><p><strong>So... have fun with that. I did! *giggles to self while tenting fingers*<strong>

**I'd love to hear feedback as always! Thanks for anyone who's read to this point!**

**Cheers,**

**Oz**


	5. Evil Twin

**So, took me a loooooong time but finally here's the next chapter! To my defense, I was actually on Oahu and got to see the production crew film a scene from the season finale! BAH! SO COOOL! Scott Caan's shorter in person but still super sexy! Ha ha.**

**Now as I swoon I give you my next chapter and hope you enjoy. It's a bit of a filler chapter but like our favorite Five-0 show, it leads to great things!**

**Cheers,**

**Oz**

* * *

><p>To say Steve was a bit surprised when the doors of H.Q. opened and Jesse Palaumalei'lei walked in escorted by a police officer, would be an understatement. More so the fact that the kid looked disturbingly calm with an odd glint of unreadable emotion in his eyes.<p>

When he and Raleigh had returned to the office, Raleigh had hunkered down in Danny's office with his computer to see if the cyber world could come up with where exactly one would get a poison such as the "1,2,3" and see how true this "no cure" statement was. Chin had gone over the video's and with Kono's help sure enough they caught the tattooed hand once more in the beating of Officer Swartz. Once again, that tattooed individual had stayed back only delivery a single kick when he was forcibly encouraged to do so.

Now they just had to see if Jesse had a tattoo which at the moment, the kid was wearing his motorcycle gloves and suit, holding his helmet in his hands.

"He said you had asked him to come Commander," the HPD officer said as Steve exited his office to confront the two. He glanced into Danny's office where it appeared Raleigh was so engrossed in the two computers he had at his disposal he hadn't even noticed the newcomer.

"Thanks I'll take him from here," Steve nodded. Curiously, Jesse watched the officer leave out of the corner of his eye while still making sure he had a good view of Steve. Once the officer was no longer in sight, the young man turned his full attention back to the Navy SEAL.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked. There's was something, devoid in the young man's voice, almost a robotic tone that didn't seem to mesh with the emotional reactions of the tattooed kid on the video. Nor did it mesh with the voice they'd heard on the phone earlier talking to Auntie Leyla.

"Why don't we head into my office an-?"

"So this is him? You're Jesse?" Exactly what Steve had been hoping to avoid happened. Raleigh had appeared in Danny's doorway, arms folded across his chest and a fiery rage in his eyes before Steve could get the kid into the security of his office.

"Yeah," the kid replied. "Heard you we're looking for me," he repeated.

"You're damn right we are!" Raleigh snarled. "I want to know why you left an officer to die in the alley way instead of helping him."

"That death isn't on me," Jesse openly admitted with a shrug. Steve raised his eyebrows while Raleigh briefly looked too stunned to speak.

"Y, you're ADMITTING you were involved?" the cyber officer barked out incredulously. Jesse blinked then nodded without a hint of remorse. Steve's gut stirred, something definitely wasn't right here. However before he could get a handle on it Raleigh was moving. The officer grabbed Jesse by the front of his riding suit and shook him, HARD. "You little bastard that officer was my brother! He's dead because you didn't care enough to call help sooner! How about I beat you up a little and leave you to die!"

"Hey! Easy!" Steve barked lurching forward. By now Chin and Kono had appeared and when Steve pulled Raleigh away he shoved the fuming officer into Chin's sturdy grasp. Giving the Hawaiian cousin a knowing look Steve ordered; "Get him out of here!"

"Screw you McGarrett, I want to talk to this piece of garbage!"

"Not like this you're not," Steve stated. "Chin, take him for a walk, Kono you're with me." Chin didn't leave any room for argument as he hauled the officer away and out the door. Once the dust settled, Steve turned back to Jesse and was a little disturbed to find even more of a blank look on the kids face.

Suddenly Auntie Leyla's words came back to him about Jesse reacting "very badly" if "attacked". At first Steve had thought that meant physically but looking into Jesse's blank eyes and emotionless expression, the Navy SEAL now realized Leyla had meant psychological as well. The kid was literally retreating into himself because of Raleigh's explosion.

"Jesse, no one's here to hurt you but there are some very serious things going on right now that I think you can help me with," Steve tried. "Now, Auntie Leyla said you're a good kid, if you were forced to participate in something you didn't want to help me find the people who made you do it." Jesse simply stood there and blinked. Steve glanced at Kono who raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders. Turning back to the kid, Steve waved toward his office. "Why don't you come in and sit down?" he offered.

Jesse moved without acknowledgement, into Steve' office as the two Five-0 officers followed. Again, Steve making note of the fact that Jesse made sure he always had the both of them in his line of sight. Once he was seated, Steve leaned on his desk and Kono took up a post close to the door.

"Would you mind taking off your gloves Jesse?" Steve asked. The young man raised an eyebrow but removed his gloves, presenting his hands. Steve's heart flip-flopped and Kono stood a bit straighter at the sight...

Jesse didn't have a tattoo on the back of his hand.

With a nod to his teammate, Kono produced the picture of the tattoo they were looking for and held it out to the kid. "Does that look familiar, Jesse?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Jesse replied. He handed the photo back to Kono and then just sat there. With nothing more provided Steve worked his jaw and decided maybe he needed to try a little harder.

"Here's the deal Jesse," he said. "There's a group of people going around beating up people who don't look Native Hawaiian. I know you know this because you lead me to Officer Swartz'. I also know you know this because ever since Detective Williams was assaulted, you've been showing up around him and Five-0 on your blue bike. Do you understand what this means?"

"It means I'm in trouble because right now I'm the only tangible link Five-0 has to what's been going on," Jesse explained. Steve furrowed his brow and frowned, Kono did the same.

"If you understand all that Jesse, why don't you tell us what's going on so you're not the only one who gets in trouble for what's happening?" Kono asked as Steve tried to work through his own thoughts. Curiously, Kono's question finally seemed to break through the icy exterior as Jesse lowered his head into his hands and he took a deep breath.

"I can't, not yet," he replied.

"Can you tell us why?" Steve asked. Jesse looked up at him, his eyes suddenly and shockingly a light with emotion.

"You wouldn't understand," he replied. "You're just some dumb Hoale that has no idea how these islands work!"

"And what about me?" Kono asked being smart enough to know her native heritage could be used to their advantage.

"Not yet, you wouldn't understand yet but you will... everyone will," Jesse said ominously. Steve took a step toward the kid who instantly tensed up and snapped his eyes toward the lumbering Navy SEAL. For some reason, Steve felt the need to make himself smaller, less of a threat. He sat down in the chair beside Jesse and leaned forward.

"Maybe we wouldn't understand but Jesse, if you know who that tattoo belongs to you need to tell us because they've been a party to some bad stuff and they need to answer for that," he tried. "You came here of your own free will knowing we were looking for you and knowing we knew you're involved. My partner and best friend is missing right now possibly very sick and undoubtedly in need of medical attention. So, let's do this your way, if you can't answer my questions maybe I can answer yours; or, you can tell me why you're here." Jesse seemed to mull this over for a bit before sitting forward almost in a challenging way and locking eyes with Steve in a particularly intense stare.

"You're going to get your partner killed," he growled out in a surprisingly venomous tone. "You don't get it and the more you try to, the more his life is in danger." It took everything the military man had to reign in the need to wrap his hands around Jesse's throat and start squeezing until the right information came out. Every inch of Steve was telling him this kid could blow their case wide open and yet, everything Jesse did seemed to contradict itself the next moment. The Navy SEAL also knew with the kids obvious emotional issues, pushing him was going to make him shut down again.

Taking a very, very deep breath, Steve forced his jaw to unclench and matched Jesse's gaze pound for pound.

"Tell me what I need to do here Jesse," he said trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible. "Tell me what I need to do to stop the people responsible for hurting others, for murdering an officer and what I need to do to get my partner back to his daughter."

"Be patient," Jesse had the audacity to reply. "Arrest me now and it all comes apart. Give me a few days and everything will make sense and you'll get your answers." This time Steve did actually twitch and in the back of his mind he once again heard Danny's voice saying;

"_Easy tiger, you chuck him in a shark cage and all you'll get is chum_." Internally, Steve spat back to his "Danny" voice that his life was in danger and Steve was only trying to get him help. However yet again, ever the one with words "Danny's" voice replied;

"_Yes but babe, this is bigger than me and you know it. Catch the bad guys and you'll find me, until then I'll just break out the Long Boards. If I find out you pissed away this chance I promise you a rant that'll make yer ears bleed."_

Danny was right and Steve would worry about his sanity later. Instead he looked at Jesse and nodded.

"Okay," he said. Because as infuriating as this meeting had been, he heard something genuine in Jesse's tone and saw something in his body language. If nothing else, his years in the military combined with his partnership with a man who was nothing but tone and body language, Steve decided to trust his instincts. "I'm not used to waiting Jesse, how can I help you?" The young man looked a bit surprised for a second before running a hand through his hair and sighing. Jesse glanced briefly at the photo in Kono's hand and then back to Steve.

"6 pm Hale'ai St," Jesse said. Kono quickly jotted down the information.

"What's going to happen there?" Steve asked.

"You'll get the kid with the tattoo," Jesse replied. Then he stepped in and amazingly LEANED into Steve's personal space to give the man another piercing look. "Don't mention my name," he said firmly.

"If I do?" Steve came back not liking being threatened by someone he could break in half.

"**_Don't_**," Jesse said again. His eyes softened considerably and he backed away from Steve submissively looking at the floor. "Please, please don't." For a moment Steve wasn't sure what to do but in the end, he followed his gut. He pulled out his card and handed it to the kid.

"I want to hear from you in the next 24 hours or the next time I find you, and I WILL find you, no favours or help will be provided, y'understand?" Steve stated. Jesse took the card, tucked it into his pocket and nodded vehemently. "Fine, get out of here."

"Boss..." Kono said with deep concern. As Jesse turned to the door she half moved to stop him but Steve stepped forward.

"Let him go Kono," he replied. The Hawaiian stepped out-of-the-way with much trepidation on her face and watched the young man duck out of the office and practically jog for the office exit. Steve waited until the kid was several moments gone before turning to Kono who looked ready to complain and beat her to the punch. "Do you really think Chin wouldn't have stuck a tracking device on the kid's bike?" he asked. Kono's face went from concerned to frustrated and then she just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You know, you guys will eventually have to teach me your secret nods and looks so I can be in on these plans," she huffed.

"You'll figure it out," Steve smiled at her.

A few minutes later, when Chin and Raleigh reappeared Steve stood up and took what he knew was coming. The cyber officer came into his office, and with the skill of a pro-fighter, delivered a right hook that nearly, ALMOST, knocked the Navy SEAL off his feet.

"You had no right to tell me to walk away McGarrett!" the officer yelled. "I had every right to talk to that kid and now I come back and find him riding off like he's done nothing wrong? This is what you call police work?" While rubbing his jaw Steve ignored the man and looked at Chin who stood just over his shoulder.

"Did you get the tracking device on?" he asked.

"Moment we were in the parking-lot," Chin nodded. "Kono and I will bring it up and make sure it's working properly... You two going to be alright?" Finally Steve made eye contact with the still seething officer in front of him and raised an eyebrow.

"You want to throw a few more punches or can we get back to work?" he asked. Raleigh clenched and unclenched his fists as if seriously considering going for another round. Instead he backed off and shook his head, his anger seeming to simmer a bit. Finally it seemed like the truth of his situation was sinking in as the officer's face softened.

"How can someone just leave a man to die?" he asked quietly. "I mean... how can someone just leave an officer who's protected this island for the better part of his life, to just... DIE?" Picturing Danny's beat up form in his head and feeling a kinship he knew was surging through Raleigh, Steve gave the man's shoulder a squeeze.

"We'll get these guys," he repeated yet again. "But I need you level-headed, if you can't do that I may have to put you in the back seat. I know you're hurting okay? I get it, the brotherhood of law enforcement is hurting with you so let's do this right okay? Did you get anything online?" The man was struggling, it was obvious so Steve let him have a moment as Raleigh took a breath, took another then finally his shoulders dropped slightly and he shook his head.

"Nothing yet," he replied.

"That's okay, we will get these guys," Steve tried to reassure the grieving man. When Raleigh looked less than convinced, the Navy SEAL took a different route. "How about you help me get ready for a stake out? Jesse gave us a time and place and considering, I'm not stupid and wont go in there alone." Being of use, the cyber crimes officer nodded and then waved a hand in the air.

"Lead on McDuff," he replied with a heavy sigh. Steve smiled and pointed toward his office. Danny was out there, somewhere and no doubt waiting for rescue and the commander wasn't going to let anything deter him from providing such for the man. True he'd been told the detective had been injected with a lethal drug but until Steve saw a body, he wasn't giving up.

He knew Danny wouldn't give up either.

At 5:59 that evening parked just off Hale'ai St which was a short dead-end road in one of the quieter parts of Honolulu, Steve waited in the shadows. The ear bud that he wore allowed him to hear the quiet and idle chatter between Chin, Kono, Raleigh and six other H.P.D. officers who were providing the SEAL backup in various places but Steve remained deadly quiet. Being closest to the area they'd been told to head toward by Jesse, Steve had moved as close as the shadows would allow before hunkering down.

'What am I waiting for Jesse?' the Commander pondered to himself.

As if on cue, Steve checked his watch just as it changed over to six p.m. then looked up to find a hooded figure appear from out of no where. The figure walked slowly up to the corner of a building right at the curb of the street then leaned against it.

A moment later, another man, also disguised in a hood and sunglasses odd for the time of night, appeared. Steve watched silently as some quiet words were exchanged before the two men shook hands, clearly passing a piece of paper between them, then breaking up in different directions.

"I've got the giver," the Navy SEAL whispered into his radio. "Raleigh, Chin, grab the guy with the sunglasses."

"Got it," Chin replied.

"Kono, be my eyes," Steve added as well. He knew the stealthy woman was lying in wait like a grand overseer with her sniper rifle making sure everyone involved would be protected.

"Gotcha brah," Kono responded. With that final comment Steve started into a light jog and pulled his weapon from his hip. The hooded figure ambling slowly only caught on to him when he sharply barked out;

"Five-0! Put your hands in the air and get down on your knees!" The hooded figure seemed to almost petrify for a moment before the hands slowly came up and he did as instructed.

As soon as the hands came up and the perp's sleeve slid down a bit, at last the tattoo Five-0 had been looking for appeared causing Steve's heart to skip a beat. They'd finally found their man.

What the Navy SEAL didn't expect was what came next.

"Show me your face!" the Commander yelled as he approached weapon at the ready. The kneeling figure quickly pulled back his hood and looked up at Steve with some defiance but more than a lot of worry mixed in his eyes.

"I didn't do nothing wrong!" the young man squealed in fear. "You ain't got nothin' on me hoale!"

The words almost fell on deaf ears however as Steve looked into very familiar face… an _identical_ face in fact and the only name he could think to say was;

"Jesse!?"

"Who?" the figure asked shaking slightly. Sure enough, the kneeling young man before Steve could have easily been Jesse Palaumalei'lei's identical twin. Everything was exactly the same, right down to the innocent but worried look in the kid's eyes. Except this kid had a tattoo on his hand; one, that after a moments of shocked revelation, Steve realized Jesse couldn't possibly have gotten in the short time he'd left Five-0's office.

Shaking himself from the shock, Steve grabbed the man's wrists and started to cuff him.

"You're under arrest," he spat. "You're tattoo gave you away buddy, so I suggest you talk starting with your name."

"Ow, Ow! You're hurtin' me brah!" Jesse's twin squealed. "My ma's goina rip you a new one when she finds out you been messin' with me!"

"Your mom?" Steve asked curiously thinking about Jesse's foster care home.

"Yeah," the kid said defiantly. _Just like Jesse,_ Steve thought. "She's a lawyer, BIG TIME lawyer, you ain't got nothin' on me!" Though his words were fierce, there was definitely an underlying fear to the kids words. He knew he was in trouble, he knew he'd been involved in bad things and he knew he was finally caught but he still kept up his bravado no doubt expecting a lawyer, his supposed "mother" to free him.

"Where's your brother kid! Did he put you up to this? You guys think this is funny!?" the Navy SEAL demanded. Oddly the young man gave him a crazed look.

"I ain't got a brother, stupid," he huffed. "Only child, see? Now why don't you go back to your donuts _pig_?" Giving the kid a stern but gentle smack upside the head, Steve, confused beyond belief and curious, shook his new prisoner to get his next question across loud and clear.

"What is your name?!" he asked. H.P.D. was swarming at this point and he led the kid toward the closest squad car.

"Milo Ozaki," the kid replied finding some of his confidence. "Remember that Five-0, because my mom's going to take yo—Ah! Hey watch it!" Not letting the kid finish because of his own confused thoughts, Steve handed off the kid to the squad cars H.P.D. officer who shoved his prize in the back of the car, slamming the door shut and giving the Commander a nod of assurance.

Chin came jogging up a second later with an incredulous look on his normally calm unreadable face, no doubt he'd seen the identical appearance to the young man they'd witnessed at the office hours ago.

"That kid looked just like-"

"Yeah he did," Steve interrupted.

"But Jesse didn't say he had a-"

"No he didn't."

"The tracking chip says Jesse's still at the docks, H.P.D. has had eyes on him since four this afternoon."

"Chin," Steve said finally making sense of what they were potentially dealing with. The seasoned detective looked him in the eye and Steve knew Chin finally came to the same conclusion he did seconds ago.

"Milo doesn't know he has a twin," the Hawaiian detective breathed out in shock. Steve sucked in a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. Chin ran his hand down his face and sighed.

"So a case that's already pretty damn complicated just got that much more so?" he asked. For a second the leader of the governor's task force closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Looks like," he sighed opening them again. He looked his friend and colleague in the eye with a stern look and oddly found himself thinking about his partner's opinion on what they were currently dealing with. "Danny would love this old school murder mystery evil twin stuff." Chin thankfully chuckled and gave his boss's shoulder a good hard reassuring squeeze.

"I'll let him know you thought so when we get him back," the Hawaiian detective smiled. His facial expression faded a bit and was a little less confident when he added; "In case... Just, well... Grace would love to hear the story from you too."

Seconds away from opening his mouth and saying something he'd probably regret in the future, Steve's upcoming tirade and Chin's concern were cut off when the Navy SEAL's phone rang.

"McGarrett," Steve barked out not bothering to check the number.

"Co…nder?!" said a shaky static filled voice. Frowning, Steve looked at his phone and decided to try again hoping a clearer signal would come through.

"This is Commander McGarrett, who is this? Hello?"

"S… Ben Mo… le!" the frantic voice exclaimed. "Mc…ret D'ny's… bad… all… could… e's gone… I tried bu… no good… so s... ry... elp… kay?... ease!?" Just as suddenly as the phone call had happened the connection cut leaving Steve with a heart-gripping fear he'd just been told his partner was gone.

His best friend, his confidant... Danny Williams was gone.

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><p><strong>BWA ha ha! *cough* Okay so not so much of an epic chapter but a necessary one. I needed this part to lead into what I'm about to do next. *Grins wickedly*<strong>

**Hope you're all still with me and will read and review so I can make the end of the story that much more exciting!**

**Love you all,**

**Oz**


	6. Wayward Son

***Bows to be forgiven for late posting* In my defense I think this is a pretty good chapter... I hope? Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed so far. Also to those who've added me to their favorites or followed my stories! **

**I've got a one-shot in the works that'll show up soon!**

**Enjoy chapter six!**

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><p>"Commander?!"<p>

Danny nearly passed out with relief when Ben apparently finally got a call through. As it turned out, the Nurse was more than prepared it seemed and by the grace of G*d their captor hadn't thoroughly checked his medical pack that had been tossed down earlier. In the bowls of the bag, was a cell phone wrapped in a dark case, the only reason Ben had found it was when he got frustrated he had nothing to help Danny's fever and dumped the whole thing all over the floor.

They'd stared at the object for a good solid minute before Danny hollered at the man to pick it up and start dialing. The signal strength was barely existent, no doubt because they were far off shore but they still had to try; Still had to hope.

Finally after hours of trying, one close call when their captor came back and threw down some food and with any natural light fading into night... the call connected. Danny just heard his partner's bark of confusion as to who it was. Ben spoke louder and slower hoping the message would get through before the call disconnected.

"It's Ben Mokulele!" he squawked. "McGarrett Danny's sick! It's not bad but I've done all I could. The guy who took us he's gone for now. We're tied up on a boat and I tried to get free but it's no good. Danny thinks it's the guy on the bike." When Ben's face folded into a frown he pulled the phone away from his ear slight and silently cursed bring it back; "Steve? I can't hear... Mcgarrett I'm so sorry I can't be more help. I'll try later okay? Hello? Steve? Anyone? Please!?"

"Ben," Danny sighed. He heard the bad static and already knew the call was lost. With a sigh of annoyance, the nurse tucked the phone into his pocket and shook his head.

"I don't know how much of that got through," he replied.

"S'fine," Danny did his best to smile through his pain. "We got through, he knows we're out here and he and the others'll find us. Now we just have to hold on t-Aaah!"

"Danny? Danny!?" Ben's voice faded slightly as a hot searing pain rode up Danny's side jabbing into his brain and nearly making him black out. When he finally came to his senses, and was able to breathe again, Danny was right there as best as his restraints would allow holding him up.

"M'okay," Danny grunted. "M'okay..."

"The hell you are," Ben hissed. "You're fever's notched up in the last few hours... Damn it I need to know what you've been stuck with."

"Hopefully the cure after the poison and not the other way around," Danny muttered just before Ben helped him take a sip of water.

"Or maybe a poison and then a temporary stop-gap," the Nurse said fatefully. This woke the detective up a bit more and he looked at the man.

"S'at your medical opinion?" he asked seriously. When the Hawaiian hesitated, Danny tried to take more of his own weight before looking the man in the eye. He knew in his seasoned gut what was happening to him damn sure wasn't a recovery but he needed someone to confirm his suspicions. "Ben, come on buddy, now's not the time to lie," he urged.

The nurse pursed his lips then slumped his shoulders.

"You aren't getting better," he replied. "You were barely alive when we got here but the shot made you come around and now..."

"No I'm starting to feel like I lost a fight with Tyson," Danny finished. "So the second shot is just slowing down whatever's trying to put me in a world of hurt."

"Think so," Ben said, then winced and added, "Sorry brah." Danny laughed, actually laughed even though it hurt.

"Not your fault babe," he replied. He was about to say more when the cell phone on the bench beside Ben lit up. Snatching it up as quickly as he could, Ben looked at the lit screen, pressed a button only to have massive grin split his face wide open. He turned the screen to face Danny who had to squint to get his eyes to cooperate.

"Looks like you were right about your partner," he laughed. The text message that had come through read;

_'Tracing cell with Navy sats, turn on and off every hour. We're coming. I promise we're coming.'_

Danny's relief was so much so that the burst of adrenaline that had pumped through him washed from his body like a tidal wave. That simple text, those simple words and Danny could just picture his partner's face as he punched it out into his phone. Steve's brow would be furrowed, his lips pinched in a fine line as he barked orders while writing and sending the text at the same time. After sending it, his eyes would darken; he'd look his teammates in the eye with a renewed sense of purpose and say "Let's go to work."

"Danny? Come on Danny stick with me okay?" Not even sure when he'd closed his eyes, Danny managed to peel them open only slightly as Ben's blurry figure loomed over him.

"S'need a rest," he slurred. "S'okay." The last thing he was aware of was Ben grabbing the back of his neck and giving it a reassuring squeeze as if to ground him to the real world.

**BACK AT FIVE-O HQ:**

Steve McGarrett had his head in his hands and as his fingernails dug into his skull he took several deep calming breaths. Since they'd gotten Milo Osaki, possibly the most annoying kid on the face of the earth, back to the interrogation room the kid had said nothing but "call my mom" and "lawyer". It was a never-ending cycle of those words that drove itself into Steve's skull causing an already intense headache to get that much worse.

More so, it seemed like nothing was going right. The runner that Chin and Raleigh had been going after apparently grew the ability to fly. They'd chased him into an alley and then with moves worthy of a professional Par-Cours athlete, the hooded perp leapt up, somersaulted up again off a building wall, snatched a loose pipe then front tucked superman style over an eight foot brick wall. By the time Chin and Raleigh had gotten around it, their guy or girl or alien acrobat was long gone.

Raleigh had apparently lost it and had tried to go after Milo only to have Kono intervene. At the moment, Steve was sure Raleigh had his own head in hand as he sat stewing in Danny's office. They all just needed a moment, a breath to calm down and pretend like everything wasn't going to hell. Waiting for "Ms. Osaki" was just the pause they needed.

Then there was the phone call he'd received at the scene, as broken up as it was, Steve was sure he hadn't heard sadness in Ben's voice but rather fear and urgency. It had to mean Danny was still alive at least for the moment. It was the one thing the Commander was holding onto as he tried to stave off the mother of all headaches.

"Steve?" Giving a grunt he really didn't mean to, the Navy SEAL looked up to find Chin standing in his doorway, a few steps behind was an angry-looking well dressed woman with an equally professional man standing at her side. Getting to his feet and knowing the look of two lawyers ready to go to war, Steve steeled himself for what came next. The woman seemed to stiffen as rage pinked her cheeks but she remained silent. The closer Steve got he could see the resemblance to Milo and Jesse which only led to more questions than answers. She had Hawaiian in her that was for sure but there was definitely some Japanese features as well.

"Commander McGarrett," the man said once Steve stepped through his office doorway. "I'm Mr. Harrison, I'm Milo Osaki's attorney as I'm sure you would have found a conflict of interest for his own mother to represent him."

"Mr. Harrison, all things considered lets cut to the chase," Steve ground out. It wasn't that he didn't like lawyers; they were officers of justice just like he was. It was simply the lawyers that took almost an hour to show up after being contacted and then pretended they had all the time in the world to discuss a very delicate time sensitive case.

"Certainly Commander, if you don't mind, Ms Osaki and I would like to go see Milo first to make sure the boy is..." Mr. Harrison was cut off when Steve momentarily let his rage flare up.

"That BOY is involved in the kidnapping of a Governor's task force member; a member of our hospital community and, oh did I mention… the MURDER of an H.P.D. veteran of the force?! Let's not forget to mention the cruel beatings of unsuspecting victims," he spat. "So before I go let you see him and make sure he has his hand held I have a few questions of my own." Then trying to regain himself he grit his teeth and added, "If YOU don't mind."

A brief look passed between mother and lawyer, with slightest nod of her perfectly manicured head, Mr. Harrison straightened up a little.

"Mary you should have representation t..."

"It's fine Thomas," Ms. Osaki stated firmly. "Look after my son and tell him I'll be there soon." With a wary look the lawyer allowed himself to be guided toward interrogation while Steve offered up his office. With a less than polite look, Ms. Osaki brushed passed him into the room and stood facing his desk.

"You can sit down if you'd like," Steve said closing his door.

"I prefer to stand when facing someone who's accusing my son of absolutely absurd charges," the woman growled out. Steve paused for a moment, looking at the proud woman in front of him and reading her body language. She was tough but there was no mistaking the slightly nervous air in her eyes.

"Ms. Osaki is Milo your biological son?" he asked. The woman's eyes went wide and her hands planted themselves firmly on her perfectly defined hips.

"How dare you!" she spat angrily. "Just because he looks more Hawaiian than I do you automatically assume he's not mine? I went through 13 hours of labor and carried that child for nine months with the sonograms to prove it! Would you like a DNA test Commander McGarrett or would you like to insult myself and my child even more by maybe having us stand next to each other to compare skin tones!?" Steve took a step back, he could only imagine how the question had come off but it was necessary. If Milo was this woman's son then there was no way Jesse wasn't either.

"I meant no disrespect," Steve said calmly and honestly.

"Bull," Ms. Osaki snapped back. "And if this is the kind of professionalism I'm to expect from the Governor's task force, someone is seriously going to have to review that man's stance on racial profiling."

"This isn't about race, Ms Osaki, it's about some curious evidence that's come up in this case and there's really only one explanation for it," Steve replied. Jesse had been adamant Steve not tell Milo about his existence but he didn't say anything about Milo's mother.

"And what would that be Commander? Because I would really like to see my son and make sure your "questions" have at least been appropriate toward him," she snarled.

"What about your other son?" Steve asked bluntly. Ms. Osaki snapped her head back and swallowed hard, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she tried desperately to keep a neutral face.

"I only have one son," she said with much less vim as she had moments ago. It was a blatant lie and Steve knew he was now treading on potentially very sensitive subject.

"Ms Osaki, I'm not trying to upset you but I need you to tell me the truth," he said gently. The well dressed woman finally felt the need to sit as she backed up and sunk into one of Steve's office chairs.

"I don't… I don't know what you're talking about," she said quietly. "I only have o, one s, son." Clearly getting emotional, Steve sighed and reminded himself distraught parents needed to be handled very carefully. He sat down next to her bringing them to the same level.

"His name is Jesse and unfortunately he's as involved with what's going on almost as much as Milo is," he explained. Needless to say, when Mary Osaki's eyes filled with tears and her hand went to her mouth, Steve had his answer. He offered the woman a tissue as he patiently waited for her to collect herself. After a moment, she took a deep breath and shook her head.

"You must think I'm a monster for giving up one son and not the other," she whispered quietly. Steve instantly shook his head.

"Sometimes parents need to do what's best for their kids even if it hurts," he replied. "I've had some experience with that myself and today I wouldn't be the man I am if my father had made the choice to send me away." Something in Ms Osaki's eyes lit up a bit in kinship before she shook her head.

"Jesse and Milo's father was... well he wasn't," she replied. "He was an abusive drunken monster and I just... I couldn't get away from him. I have no family; I was a shy girl who focused on her studies so it was easy for him to control me." Steve sat up a bit surprised.

"Definitely not a way I would describe you right now," he replied. "What changed?" Ms Osaki gave a sad laugh and shook her head.

"I got pregnant," she replied. "Of all the miracles in the world, I got pregnant and I survived that bastard and managed to bring those boys to term."

Steve got up and snatched a bottle of water out of the fridge offering to the woman he thought he'd have to war with only moments ago.

"Thank you," she sniffed. She took a sip before going on. "Max, my ex, he was military as well as a local boy, he had a lot of pull with a lot of people on the Islands. When the boys were born I had them home only four days before I saw him look at them in drunken anger and I knew I had to do something. I took a few more beatings to protect the boys but this time I video taped them. Finally late one night he came at me and I threatened to expose him if he didn't let me and the boys go. He backed off and like an idiot I believed him when he said "fine" and that we could stay the night before leaving."

"What happened next?" Steve asked. Ms Osaki's eyes lit up with tears again and she shook her head.

"When I woke up, Milo was curled up against me but Max and Jesse were gone," she trembled.

"Did you contact the police?"

"I thought about it but I... I was just so glad that Max was gone. It's horrible of me I know. I felt more relieved than upset at that point but I was. I waited two weeks and when they didn't come back I took Milo and left," she said clearly with a heavy heart. "I got myself back on my feet and as soon as I could I started looking but there was no trail. He had military friends that got him to the main land and from there... from there nothing. I just focused on Milo and tried to do my best with him hoping on day Jesse would be free too." The woman stopped, tears seeping from her eyes and her whole body shaking. "I was wrong, I know I was wrong to wait so long, to not call the police and I've regretted every day of my life. That poor boy. My baby boy." Steve sat back taking a breath and shaking his head.

"Was Max's last name Palaumalei'lei?" he asked. The woman shook her head.

"No it was Kanoa, Palaumalei'lei was his sisters married name... why?" she asked.

"That's the name Jesse's been going by since he was put in foster care," Steve explained. Ms Osaki swallowed several times trying to fight a fresh onslaught of tears.

"He's... he's been on the island? This whole time?" she gasped. Steve felt for the woman but didn't deny her the truth, he nodded his head.

"Since he was very young," he replied. "By the age, I'd guess he never left Oahu."

"Oh G*d!" Ms Osaki wailed. There was no stopping the flood now as the woman collapsed into her hands and sobbed for all she's worth. Knowing the woman needed a moment Steve quickly texted Kono to get Raleigh and start searching for a Max Kanoa and see if they couldn't figure out how Jesse had been left in foster care instead of brought back to his mother years ago.

Several minutes later, Ms Osaki finally collected herself and looked at Steve.

"Commander, I have no right as a mother, as a lawyer and as a human being to ask you this but please... my boys can't be like their father," she said. "I'm begging you to give them the benefit of the doubt. That said, if they've done something wrong, promise me I can at least be there to try and help them atone and push them in the right direction. Milo, he's a good boy and what you're saying is really hard to swallow." Steve took a breath and sat back in his chair.

"I can only promise you to do my best and that is if and that's a big IF, they are both willing to cooperate," he replied. Sure he felt bad for the situation but both teens had hard evidence linking them to the crimes that had so far been committed. Crimes that were still happening as Danny and Ben were somewhere out there alone and hurt.

"I'll do what I can to help," Ms. Osaki nodded. Then she stood composing herself a final time, "No one knows about Jesse, not even my firm or Mr. Harrison my associate and attorney. I just... is there anyway..."

"It can stay between yourself and my team for now Ms Osaki," he replied. "But something tells me this secret won't stay hidden for long."

"I know," the woman sighed. "I just need... I need time to figure out how to explain this. May I go see Milo now?"

"Right this way," Steve guided.

They walked down to interrogation and the moment he opened the door the, oh so tough Milo, sat up straight and squeaked out, "Mom!" excitedly. "Mom I didn't do anything! I swear I didn't! They don..." The young man was cut off when instead of speaking; Ms Osaki just wrapped her arms around him and pulled her son into her chest.

Looking more than confused but happy to be protected, Milo hugged the woman back. Mr. Harrison raised a curious eyebrow looking between Steve and mother and son. He opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off when Chin suddenly opened the door.

"Steve... we got something," he said hastily. Frustrated he couldn't finally start the interrogation but seeing Chin's urgency; Steve ducked out of the room and closed the door.

"What's up?"

"We've got a location on the cell phone," he replied. Steve's heart sped up a bit.

"So quickly!?"

"Raleigh helped pull in some favors and got us a few more satellites to process but it was also the fact that Jesse's been tracked to and from a North Shore marina a few times since Danny went missing," Chin explained.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Steve asked.

"The cell phone is five miles of the coast of Oahu... the North Shore, of Oahu," Chin said. "Coast Guard's got a helicopter coming to pick you up and get you to their cutter that's already on its way to the location." That had Steve's legs moving with a nod.

"Take over the interrogation, find out everything and anything you can about what's going on!" he called over his shoulder.

"I got this Steve, just go get Danny back!"

A short while later Steve climbed aboard the small Coast Guard cutter. It had stopped their trip part of the way so the helicopter could catch up. Getting into the small craft the Commander came face to face with five rather shocked Coasties who just looked at him like an alien from outer space. It probably had something to do with the fact that he hadn't waited for the helicopter to hitch him up and lower him into the water.

He'd simply told them to get low enough before jumping, cargo pants and all, the several feet drop to the surface of surprisingly cold Hawaiian waters only to pop up seconds later and power stroke to the waiting boat.

"I'm a Navy SEAL," he explained to the shocked faces. Several "Aah ha's" of understanding echoed through the small craft before ever one turned back to their duties and the man at the helm started it up and got moving again.

"Ready to get your man back, Commander?" the Coast Guard officer closest to him asked as he handed Steve a towel.

"You have no idea," Steve said finally allowing himself to have a small sparkle of hope. One thing was for sure, if they did finally get the Jersey detective back, Steve would never again let the pineapple hating man out of his sight.

Danny's personal space issues would just have to take a vacation.

**FIVE MILES OFF THE COAST:**

Danny came too to Ben protectively crouching over him and the man from the surveillance video looming over them with a gun.

"I said get him up! I ain't tellin' you again!" the young man hissed.

"And I told you he's sick! We shouldn't move him!" Ben squawked. Clearly aggravated, the young man cocked his weapon and held it to the nurse's head silencing the him with fear.

"Whoa!" Danny slurred. "M'up... s'fine... Ben, help me out."

Shaking, Ben just managed to haul Danny to his feet. Their restraints had been removed, when Danny had no idea but all was forgotten as the fresh ocean air hit his face. He took a deep breath as he and Ben were led to back of the boat, the nurse instantly being hand-cuffed to the railing once again. Apparently, Danny didn't appear to be enough of a threat in his condition and was left free.

"What are we doing?" the detective asked. There was an odd buzzing in Danny's ears that he couldn't quite tell if it was the concussion or a motor running.

"Saying goodbye," the young man said. "Don't worry, your friends found you some how, he's on his way." Confusion but also concern ran through Danny's entire body waking him up with the adrenaline. He was excited at the prospect that Steve, Chin and Kono were coming but also deeply concerned they wouldn't get there in time.

"You planning on running?" the detective asked. He knew the answer however, he'd dealt with unstable people before and he knew the tone the young man had just used meant nothing good.

"No, I'm done running," the kid replied softly. Then he looked down and added, "I'm done pretending." He raised the gun to his own head ready to fire.

Danny didn't think, didn't process, he just moved.

"NO!" he barked out. With more strength than he should have had, the Jersey detective ploughed into the unstable young man, grabbed for his gun-wielding hand and sent the both of them sailing over the railing.

The gun went off and the last thing the detective heard was Ben's wail of helplessness as the choppy waters swallowed its prey claiming what dared fall into its bottomless depths.

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><p><strong>Hope you all enjoyed this, I rewrote it almost nine times. GRARRR!<strong>

**And yes, most of my chapters all ended in some sort of cliff hanger! I'm a sucker for a suspenseful ending!**

**I'd love to have some feedback or if you liked it and are waiting for more follow the story or check out my other stories via my profile page!**

**Thanks again to the supporters out there who make me want to write and give me something to read while I'm thinking of where to go with my own work!**

**Love lots!**

**Oz**


	7. Twisted

**Wow! The reviews have been great! I'm so happy everyone's enjoying my writing as much as I enjoy writing it!**

**Now I'll get out of your way and let you get on with our poor whumped Danny is doing.**

**Oz**

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><p>Steve snapped his head toward the horizon and squinted into the salty spray of the water around him. The worst times of day to see were dawn and dusk and with all that had gone on, the Coast Guard cutter found itself boating almost directly into the rising sun of the new Hawaiian morning. They'd been motoring along and top speed and were close to the location that had been pinpointed on GPS when Steve heard it.<p>

Clearly the other Coast Guard officers heard it too since they'd all turned in the same direction and perked up like loyal Saint Bernard's. Even over the sound of the engine, the wind and waves, any trained soldier, officer could hear the clear "pop" sound of a gun being fired.

"Go faster!" Steve ordered. He knew it was unnecessary, he knew the guy driving the boat wanted to protect one of their own just as much as he did but Steve simply felt helpless at the moment. So close and yet so far.

"There!" One of the Coasties yelled out. The small yacht bobbed up and down on the waves as a single figure waved one arm frantically on the back deck. The Coast Guard cutter wasted no time zooming toward the boat and pulling up along side.

"Ben! Hang on buddy we'll get you free!" Steve called as the Coast Guards attempted to secure the two boats together.

"S'in the water!" Ben hollered frantically. At first Steve barely understood what the man was saying as he flailed and kicked almost ready to fight anyone who came near him.

"What?" the Navy SEAL asked. Ben's eyes were wide, the whites showing like a spooked horse.

"They're in the water! DANNY'S IN THE WATER!" the Nurse yelled over the noise of the Ocean. Steve's heart would have stopped in his chest if he hadn't been moving already. Amazingly, he wasn't the first one to hit the water and he'd store it away for later to thank the Coast Guards and their quick response. Maybe the shock had just made him move a second slower but as soon as Ben's words were clear, one of the Coasties yelled out;

"Man overboard!" Sending two of the Swimmers that had been riding along leaping into the water like their boat was on fire. Steve didn't care what the temperature of the water was or how long it would take but as soon as he hit he knew he wasn't going to surface until he had something solid to bring with him. Silently he prayed his friend wasn't too deep and hadn't gone to far away from the boat so that they wouldn't be able to get him back.

As time passed and the second minute ticked into the third, Steve's lungs started to protest but he'd be damned if he was going to surface. Danny had to be down there, had to be somewhere and had to be okay. If Danny didn't surface, neither would he.

Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder and started to pull him toward the surface. He tried to protest but the strong-arm of one of the Coast Guard officer won over his burning lungs and fatigue. Once they breached the surface the man had the good sense to speak before Steve could punch him in the face.

"We've got them Commander! But we gotta go!" Needless to say, Steve ignored his need to sigh with relief and launched himself back toward the boat.

As soon as he climbed on board he was instantly at Danny's side while one of the Coast Guard officers performed CPR.

"Come on Danno, don't do this to me buddy. Understand!? Breathe Danny! BREATHE!" the Navy SEAL demanded. As if responding to the order, the detective suddenly started hacking up water. With relief flooding through him it was only then did the Navy SEAL look toward the other two who'd been pulled on board. Ben was shaking like a leaf as his wrist was attended to since it'd been badly cut no doubt when he'd tried to get to Danny. The man looked like he was a stones through from some serious shock symptoms.

Then there was Jesse, he was a soaking wet blubbering mess with a whole in his gut that was staining the deck of the boat below him. The curious thing was that the kid seemed more upset than in pain, like the bullet wound hadn't even registered.

"I'm sorry!" the kid wailed. "I'm sorry!"

Things were fast and furious after that, the cutter zipped its precious cargo back to land as fast as possible where two helicopters were prepped and ready to whisk the injured to the hospital.

Steve wouldn't remember how long it took or how they got to the hospital but he soon found himself sitting in the waiting room a puddle forming at his feet. All he would remember was his partner's limp form, almost blue lips and the fact that the stubborn man refused to regain consciousness the entire ride. It killed Steve not to see his partner's eyes, not to be able to incite a pinched face of frustration followed by a rant to end all rants.

"Steve!" The Commander looked up as Chin and Kono came running toward him their faces full of concern. He stood up with a squelch of his boots and gave the cousins a tired smile.

"Hey," he nodded.

"Did you get him? Is Danny going to be okay?" Kono asked. Steve sighed and let a hand wave through the air and slap against his wet side.

"We got him but he was unconscious the whole way in," he explained. "I'm waiting on the Doc to see what's up. But he was breathing. He was alive and the Coast Guard said he had a good heart beat."

"Thank G*d," Kono breathed.

"How are you?" Chin asked. Steve's tired smile grew a little and he waved off their concern.

"Little water-logged but fine," he replied.

"A little?" Kono smirked. She purposefully splashed her foot into the puddle that Steve had created under the chair.

"Easy Kalakaua," he playfully warned. Then he let his concerns and questions pull the smile from his face and let it grow serious again.

"Did we get anything from Milo or on his biological father?" he asked.

"Milo's amazingly more pleasant with his mother around," Chin nodded. "That said he also seems scared and only wants to talk to you. I tried but all I could get out of him was that something big was going down and sooner rather than later." Steve sighed, he'd been hoping for more and was a little surprised that Milo suddenly wanted him and no one else but he'd take what he could get at the moment.

"Kono anything on this Max Kanoa guy?" the Commander asked.

"Did I ever," Kono sighed. She pulled out her tablet and brought up a picture of a rather angry-looking Hawaiian man in uniform. "Meet Sergeant Max Kanoa Reg Force Army. His record is pretty spotless and pretty well liked guy by his peers; if it weren't for civilian reports you'd think this guy was a hero."

"I saw real fear in Ms Osaki's eyes when she talked about him," Steve said shaking his head. "You can't fake that."

"I don't doubt it," Kono nodded. "Max had a juvie record that I was able to get unsealed. Turns out the only reason he joined the military because his parents believed it would be the only way to keep him out of prison and contain his anger management issues. Basically at nine he put another kid in the hospital who dared ask him to share his snack at lunch time."

"Charming," Chin sighed.

"Yeah, so he joins up and meets Mary Osaki five years later," Kono said. Then with a heavy tone added, "They were together for ten years."

"So where is he now?" Steve said trying to ignore the image of a battered woman suffering alone for that long period of time.

"Dead," Kono replied. When Steve raised an eyebrow, the woman continued. "Three weeks after the date Ms. Osaki claims he took off with Jesse, he got into a bar fight on the main land. Cops tried to break it up and he put three of them in the hospital so he was shot and died later in hospital."

"Where was Jesse?" Steve asked. Kono flipped through some more of her records and shrugged.

"Here," she replied. "I spoke to Auntie Leyla again and pulled records from child services. Kanoa left the island but he didn't take Jesse with him, instead he dropped the kid off with his sister saying he had to get away for a bit and she needed to protect him from Ms Osaki who HE claimed was the abuser. Apparently according to a statement by neighbors his sister didn't even know Ms Osaki had been pregnant."

"And what does the sister say now?"

"Dead end again, literally," Kono said almost looking embarrassed about it. "She was killed when Jesse was four and since there was no living relative with the name Palaumalei'lei..."

"He was put into foster care... Damn," Steve whistled.

"Auntie Leyla also begged me to convince you Jesse's a good kid at heart and anything he's been a party too was forced on him," Kono added.

"Same thing Ms. Osaki said about Milo but who's pulling the strings?" Chin asked.

"Hopefully Milo can shed some light on things... Jesse took a round to the gut and is in surgery at the moment," Steve replied. Then he ran a hand down his still dripping face and tried to process that last several days. At the moment he was torn between wanting more information and waiting for word on his partner. That and he was in serious need of a good cup of coffee.

Fortunately he didn't have to wait much longer for information on his partner. A doctor in scrubs came into the waiting room and upon seeing the badges walked right up to the three Five-0 members.

"My name's Doctor Cross, can I assume you're here for Detective Williams?"

"You can," Steve said extending a wet cold hand. "Commander McGarrett, Detective Kelly and officer Kalakaua." The doctor took it with a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything. "How's our boy doing?" Steve asked.

"I wont lie to you, the Detective is quite sick," Dr. Cross explained. "The Coast Guard who brought him in told me you mentioned he'd been poisoned?"

"A neurotoxin from a plant that only grows on Kauai," Chin offered. "The translated Hawaiian name is..."

"The 1,2,3?" Dr. Cross asked raising his eyebrows. The Five-0 members looked at him impressed.

"That's it," Chin nodded. "You've heard of it?" Nodding the doctor continued,

"That would explain Nurse Mokulele's theory," he said. Mentally kicking himself, Steve had almost forgotten they had another friend on that boat.

"Ben... how is he doing?" the Commander asked.

"He's doing fine," said a voice from the doorway. The group turned around as Ben approached them from the doorway. He was in dry scrubs his wrist was bandaged and other than some bumps, cuts and bruises was looking a damn site better than he had earlier that morning.

"Mahalo for taking care of Danny, brah," Steve smiled at the man. Ben just waved him off.

"Thank me when he walks outta here," he replied. "I told the doc whatever Danny was stuck with the first time seemed to be counteracted by whatever that kid on the boat forced me to stick the detective after. It's slowing down symptoms but not stopping it. He was getting worse."

"So what do we do? How do we help Danny?" Steve asked. Dr. Cross raised his hands to keep the Navy SEAL calm.

"Well contrary to reports while "The 1,2,3" doesn't have a cure specifically for it there are some medicines that can counteract the effects and eventually cure the individual. That said it all depends on how long the detective was infected and how fast we can get him those drugs." Steve stood to his full height and frowned.

"What do you mean how fast? Why aren't you already giving them to him?" he asked.

"Steve, easy," Chin warned.

"It's okay, I'd be upset in this situation too," Dr. Cross replied sympathetically. "As I mentioned the medicines that can work are stored on the main land with CDC because they're so rarely needed. In fact, the fact that someone got a hold of this toxin to begin with should make them easy to track down. Even though it's a local plant, only someone with medical knowledge of toxins and pathogens would be able to produce it. And they'd need a lab to do it in." Steve snapped his head toward Kono who'd already whipped out her tablet.

"I'll get Raleigh on it boss," she nodded. Satisfied, Steve turned back to the doctor.

"So how long until the medicine can get here from the mainland?" he asked.

"I had it sent for as soon as I heard mention of the toxin," he replied. "But it'll probably be another seven hours."

"And until then?" Chin asked.

"Until then we've pumping the detective with fluids and monitoring his vitals very vigilantly," the doctor replied. "We can counteract the individual symptoms with what we've got here and manage the pain but ultimately we need those drugs to cure him." After a pause the doctor looked at Ben and put a hand on his shoulder. "I have to say if you hadn't been there Nurse Mokulele I honestly believe the detective wouldn't have the fighting chance that he does. He's young, healthy and I have high hopes we can get him through this."

"That's great," Steve said letting out a breath. He too patted the slightly blushing nurse on the back in thanks.

"Can we see him?" Kono asked having sent her information to Raleigh.

"Just for a moment and Commander... may I suggest some dry scrubs before you end up a patient with pneumonia?" Dr. Cross asked. Steve glanced down at himself and then to the puddle on the floor knowing he probably looked like a drowned rat. Looking back up to the sympathetic faces around him he relented and gave a nod.

Soon enough found Steve changed and entering Danny's hospital room and wincing at all the monitoring equipment and oxygen mask that covered the detective's face. Chin and Kono had already given the man a quick visit before heading back to H.Q. to start up on their search for information. Upon entering the room Steve was more than surprised to find Ben, now in his Nurse' scrubs, with his credentials pinned to his shirt, checking over the machines in the room.

"Should you really be back to work?" Steve asked incredulously.

"C'rs he should," said a gravelly voice. "S'm'shiny new friend." All but leaping to his partner's bedside as it registered it was he who'd spoken, Steve's face grew into a wide grin. Ben chuckled and shook his head as two tired blue eyes looked up at the Navy SEAL.

"Hey Danny, how ya feeling?" Steve asked.

"Like'm still dying," Danny replied. It was meant as a joke both Steve and Ben knew that but still, it struck deep in the Commander's gut. The nurse too looked away and to the floor.

A pause later and the detective grunted;

"C'mon guys, m'not dead yet," he replied. Sucking back his fears, Steve nodded and put a hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Exactly, they've got the drugs on the way to cure you," he said confidently. "You'll be good as new and driving me nuts in no time."

"Me? Drive YOU nuts?" Danny scoffed. Grinning Steve gave a nod.

"Let's face it Danny, I put up with a lot of abuse from you on a daily basis," he joked. Danny's tired brows lifted up incredulously before he turned to the other occupant of the room.

"Ben, wave your hands around for a moment," he ordered. The nurse gave him a confused look but did so, the moment he was done; Danny turned back to Steve and pointed at the nurse. "When'm healthy again you're goina here the rant that goes along with that," he said.

Ben snorted out a laugh while Steve chuckled feeling something loosen in his chest. Danny was far from out of danger but now he was safe and he was getting treatment. That and the man was a fighter who had a lot to live for which gave Steve confidence the detective would be okay.

Danny smirked but then the smile fell from his face and his eyes opened a bit wider.

"The kid," he grunted. "He was going to kill himself."

"A kid who took us hostage and we don't even know who we was," Ben huffed. Then he looks at Steve, "So your partner here decided to save the kids life and go for a swim. Brah it was crazy."

"No doubt," Steve sighed. He looked between the two men and explained who exactly Jesse Palaumalei'lei was and his connection to the whole case. He also mentioned how Ms Osaki and Auntie Leyla didn't believe either boy could be truly bad at heart.

"I believe them," Danny said once story was out. At that Steve jerked his head back in surprise.

"Seriously? They're the only ones we've managed to connect with what's going on and you think they're just good kids who've been a little turned around?" he asked. Danny nodded with a yawn, no doubt his illness and painkillers ready to take him away from the conscious world.

"They may have been're but so far all they've done is help in odd ways," the detective replied. "That and the kid… Jesse… S're something in his eyes. My guts been tellin' me from the get go somethin's not right about this. Think these two're bein'used." By the end of the sentence Danny was slurring so badly Steve looked at Ben in concern.

The nurse just gave him a shake of the head and pointedly looked at the IV bags running into the detective's arms. As much as Steve wanted to keep talking to his partner he knew the man needed rest if he was going to hold on for a little while longer.

"I'll trust your gut Danno," Steve smiled. "Get some rest and I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Mmmhmm… sleep." The Navy SEAL smiled as he literally saw the exact moment that Danny nodded off back into a drug induced slumber. When he was sure his partner was out he guided Ben closer to the door and spoke softly.

"You've gone above and beyond my friend, I can't believe you're still here," Steve said. "What about the kids and the girlfriend?" Ben shrugged as if it meant nothing.

"They'll be here soon, we're going to go out for a few hours but truth is, there's something about you Five-0 guys," he replied. Steve raised a curious eyebrow and smiled.

"How's that?" he asked. Another shrug before the nurse turned back to Danny and said;

"Once you get on the crazy train, it's hard to get off," he smiled. "Even if I wanted to brah, I'm seeing this through."

Feeling slightly renewed by Ben's faith in his team and knowing that Danny was in good hands, Steve allowed Chin to convince him over the phone to head home for a few hours.

Truth was, Steve knew he was lagging and the desperate swim in the ocean hadn't helped matters. He was bone tired and needed a solid meal and a nap before he would be of any good to anyone. Only now, with his partner safe, did he consider taking care of his own personal needs.

So with a promise to be back at the office in time to bring dinner for the cousins and Raleigh, Steve trudged up to his front door and headed inside.

No sooner had he closed the door did all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, all his sharpened senses telling him he wasn't alone. Remaining calm, the Navy SEAL closed his front door then whipped around drawing his weapon.

"Identify yourself!?" Steve barked. The younger looking man sat at the dining table closest to Steve's back door. He wore jeans and a sweat shirt and had the audacity to be sipping on a cup of coffee from a mug with Steve's seal team crest on it. Apparently the man had made himself nice and cozy while waiting for the Commander's return.

"Commander McGarrett," the man said. He gave a nod to the mug in his hands. "I gotta say Kona coffee puts anything we've got back on the mainland to shame." Steve, gun still trained, practically snarled at the man.

"I'm really not in the mood right now," he spat. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" Finally the man took his last sip of coffee before standing and pulling out his wallet.

"Agent Brent Wells, National Security Agency," he said showing Steve his badge. The credentials were enough for the Navy SEAL to holster his weapon but he still remained on edge.

"So what? The NSA can't make regular appointments at my office? You have to break into my home and drink my coffee?" he asked. The man smiled and shook his head.

"I'm not the bad guy here Commander but considering two of your people almost ran me down the other day, I figured it was time for us all to play nice in the sandbox," Brent replied. Steve frowned and clearly catching his confusion, the NSA agent continued. "I was the one meeting with Milo Osaki when you're team rushed in. I've been undercover for weeks and still am. THAT is why I'm not in your office right now, low profile yeah?" For a moment Steve processed the information before motioning for the man to sit back down.

Once they were both seated, the Navy SEAL waved his hands in the air and shrugged.

"So why is the NSA involved in a local case? More so, why didn't you come to us sooner knowing we were investigating this to begin with?" he asked. Brent's eyes darkened considerably as he leaned forward.

"Because I needed to know who all the players were first and this, Commander McGarrett is FAR from a bunch of racists running around beating up tourists," he replied. "In fact, it's exactly the opposite of what you and your team are thinking it is."

"Meaning?" Steve asked impatiently.

"Meaning…" Brent, the NSA agent replied. "… In a few days time the Hawaiian people may be facing a biological extinction. And they may just be a trial run." His words were heavy with concern and even a small bit of fear. There was no denying the intensity and Steve, the professional he was, sat back in his chair, nodded and said;

"I'm listening."

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><p><strong>Thoughts? Oh and might I add an authorly (yes I made up that word) chuckle of contentment? BWA HA HA HA HA HA! <strong>**I'm enjoying this story, hope you are too! I'm hoping this will be my first 200 reviews story but we shall see!**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Oz**


	8. Who Dun'it?

**Sorry this took so long! I wont waste your time, just want to say how much I appreciate everyone's attention to my writing thus far. It's an outlet for me and it's nice to know people enjoy it!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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><p>Steve was at a loss for words as he finally re-entered five-0 HQ. In fact he was down right befuddled and all he could think of at the moment was how much he missed his partner's presence. Danny was his sounding board as much as he was to the detective and now, the man he felt he needed most was laid up in hospital.<p>

And Steve was on his own. Agent Wells had introduced him to a world of terror, microbiology, biochemistry and pretty much every other ology that involved potentially dangerous situations for human beings. What Wells did know was someone on the islands was gathering troubled or abandoned Hawaiian youth and using them to beat up tourists and anyone who looked like a foreigner.

The NSA agent believed it was a high-profile story that was actually a decoy. People were so focused on that and even fear that came with it that no one was paying attention to the fact that a month ago a lab in Honolulu had been broken into. What was stolen was all the necessary equipment to manufacture diseases. It had been put on the back burner because the State was obviously more concerned about people getting beat up for no reason.

The problem was, three weeks ago shortly after that robbery the CDC on the mainland recorded a curious anomaly during inventory of one of their labs. The anomaly? Six Petri dishes of a "super bug" seemed to have been misplaced.

Life ending illness and it had been "misplaced"; THAT had really made Steve mad but he continued to sit and listen as he was told how the NSA believed all these dangerous elements were potentially in the hands of a doctor named Holztman Vagner. A doctor whose radical publications and borderline neo-natzi beliefs had him ostracized and shunned from all medical communities. No hospital would have him, no lab would touch him and eventually his theories were so disturbing that the man's medical license was revoked and he dropped of the face of the map.

Until now it seemed. As Wells had explained it, Vagner had recently come to Hawaii. He'd come claiming it was an extended vacation and had visited all of the islands. Now apparently he was staying on the North Shore in a fairly expensive rental home. But as much as the NSA had been watching him the man didn't appear to be doing anything wrong.

So Wells had been sent in undercover to get in league with the youth that Vagner had been indirectly gathering and using to beat up tourists. From there Wells didn't know why or how but he'd been hoping to get information from Milo. Curiously when Steve asked him what Jesse's involvement was Wells had no idea who that was. Apparently the kid was off the radar for the NSA but his twin wasn't. News that once again surprised the agent who was actually gob smacked when Steve explained how the kid was Milo's twin.

Those details had slipped past the Security Agency but then again Steve knew he and Five-0 had missed a few details as well.

Steve's confusion was only added to when he headed towards the interrogation room to speak with Milo only to have Chin and two paramedics blow past him at an urgent clip. Sensing something was very wrong, Steve jogged to keep up, skidding to a halt just inside the room door as the paramedics frantically started working on Milo who was convulsing and foaming at the mouth on the floor.

"Help him!" Ms Osaki screeched hysterically as her legal partner, Mr. Harrison held her back. "Oh god Milo! My baby!"

"Chin," Steve hissed to his teammate, "The hell happened!?"

"He started complaining about stomach pains and then he just collapsed," the Hawaiian detective explained. "No warning Steve and we had eyes on him this whole time."

"I believe you," Steve nodded.

"Looks like some sort of toxin... did he take anything?" one paramedic asked.

"No! No he's been in this room the whole time!" Ms. Osaki cried. "He hasn't been alone since he got here! Please just help him!" Finally the convulsing young man stilled and the paramedics kicked it into full gear. Not six minutes later, Milo was intubated and being whisked back up and out of the building to the waiting ambulance.

"Chin ride with them, I'll meet you at the hospital," Steve ordered as they ran. "Where's Kono?"

"With Raleigh in the office... Steve what the hell is going on?"

"Good question," the Navy SEAL replied shaking his head. Then knowing his new information wasn't something he wanted others to hear just yet gave Steve a pointed look. "I'll fill you in once as soon as I can." Ever the loyal team member, Chin just nodded and helped move the stretcher into the ambulance before leaping in next to Ms Osaki. Steve slammed the doors and gave the doors a knock letting the paramedic know to get going.

As soon as it was off lights and sirens, Steve jogged over to his own truck with Mr. Harrison on his heels.

"I'm coming with you Commander, Milo got sick on my watch and I damn sure want to know what happened," he said. Steve hesitated for a split second, he knew if Ms. Osaki's law partner was to come to the hospital he'd undoubtedly find out about Jesse. However at the moment, an argument of why he should stay behind just seemed like a waste of time and energy so the Navy SEAL relented.

"Fine, get in," he said. On the way to the hospital Steve called Kono to let her know what was up. While Mr. Harrison was making his own phone calls, undoubtedly of the legal nature, Steve also quietly asked his Five-0 teammate to look into Brent Wells to check if the NSA's credentials were legit. It still didn't sit right that the agent had just appeared in his home and vanished just as quickly. It also seemed strange that on such a high-profile case the supposed agent seemed in the dark on key elements.

Or he was hiding something and Steve intended on finding out what. As he, yet again, pulled into the hospital parking lot Steve once again found himself thinking how much he missed his partner. Glancing at Mr. Harrison next to him and receiving a raised eyebrow, the SEAL just sighed, parked his truck and hopped out.

Steve was quick to find Chin-Ho and Mr. Harrison was just as quick to find Ms. Osaki. After a brief summation that the doctor's were still working on Milo and they really had no idea what was going on, the two parties separated. Ms Osaki and Mr. Harrison to find out about Milo and Chin and Steve to confer on certain details best left inside their team investigation at the moment.

"Kono sent me a text to ask you about an Agent Wells but only if we were alone," Chin stated. Steve nodded.

"Supposedly and NSA agent undercover," he replied. "Remember the guy that was meeting with Milo Osaki and got away?" Chin gave him an annoyed look.

"You mean the one that pulled a superman and expected us lowly human beings to follow?" he asked sarcastically. "Yeah I remember him… that guy was NSA?"

"Claims to be," Steve nodded. "And he showed up at my house… you might want to sit down because if what this guy says is true, we've got a hell of a lot more to deal with then some angry teenagers."

"This is a story I need to hear," Chin replied.

Over the next short while, Steve told Chin all about his curious house visitor and what the man had told him. Also, they discussed the possibility that maybe, Danny, even on sick-bed had been right that Jesse and Milo may actually be unaware of the greater danger they were facing.

When all was said and done, Chin blew out a breath and shook his head.

"You think this Wells guy is on the level?" he asked.

"No idea," Steve shrugged. But then he smiled at his teammate, "That's what I've got your cousin for." Chin gave a wise appreciative chuckle just as the tablet in his jacket pocket gave a ping for attention. Pulling it out the two men saw there was a request for a video request from Kono.

"Something she couldn't have called us about?" Chin asked prepping the device.

"We'll find out," Steve replied.

Bringing up the video chat on the tablet the two men were a bit surprised and concerned at the looks on both Kono and Raleigh's faces. Kono looked like she'd seen a ghost while Raleigh just looked like someone told him his brother had died all over again.

"What's going on? What did you find?" Steve asked. Raleigh just shook his head while Kono let out a breath.

"A "how to" manual," she explained. Steve glanced at Chin then back to his other teammate.

"How to, what?" he asked.

"Selectively commit genocide... it's disturbingly perfect." Steve straightened up in shock and confusion as did Chin.

"What?" he asked simply.

"I looked into Agent Wells like you asked me too," Kono explained. "I got stone-walled from the NSA but ten minutes ago Raleigh found a coded link embedded deep in our computers that weren't there an hour ago. It's a link to a… disturbing thesis that basically uses natural viruses or diseases artificially engineered to take out certain genetic coding in human beings."

"You think Wells sent it to you?" Chin asked.

"Think so," Kono nodded. "It looks like most of the stuff here is from documents that would be of interest to the NSA. Some redacted stuff too but Raleigh's pretty sure that the fingerprints of someone from their agency are all over this."

"So what's the gist of it beside selective genocide?"

"How he plans on doing it." At last the cyber-crimes officer seemed to find his voice. It was dark, it was ominous and it sounded like it held all the pain in the world. It was so much so, Kono actually put a hand on the man's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Raleigh's haunted eyes lifted and found Steve's.

"He's using kids," he said. "Kids who've got nothing left and think the world owes them a favor. He's preying on their weakness and need to be accepted and then he plans on using them as carriers or victims; Abused kids, kids without parents, kids who've lost someone and are vulnerable. The youth of Hawaii are the trial run. He's going to see if he can annihilate Hawaiian blood. If he succeeds it looks like the plan is to make the viruses more selective... People with disabilities, people with genetic flaws, hell people with brown eyes, pretty much a super race."

"Where have I heard that before?" Chin sighed.

"This isn't a world war," Steve went on to the unsaid sentiment. "This would be much more unpredictable and take years longer to try to pin point sources; Sources that could be in the thousands. Once this gets out there... Once it's in the hands of people as evil as Vagner and equally as capable of reproducing or recoding it..."

"We could face global extinction," Kono whooshed out incredulously.

"Starting with the kids no one's paying attention too," Raleigh said with a disgusted shake of the head. "Those twins really are innocent to a certain degree. And I can not believe I'm saying that."

Neither could Steve. Undoubtedly Raleigh was thinking of his brother's new-born child and the trials it would now face of not knowing its father. Since day one the cyber-crimes officer had wanted nothing more than to lock the two boys up and make them pay for their crimes. Which made sense, his brother had died and both twins had been involved. Now it seemed the man had read something so terrible it was changing his mind on the situation. That was what scared Steve the most.

And Danny had called it, he never believed those kids were the masterminds behind everything and he had been completely right. All of a sudden Steve felt a duty to his partner and friend to figure this out before things really got out of hand.

"Chin and I will be back in a bit we just need to-"

"Steve." At Chin's firm call of his name the Navy SEAL snapped his head up to find Ms. Osaki walking toward them with gaunt look on her face. Sensing nothing good, Steve turned back to the two officers back at Five-0.

"We'll call you back," he nodded. The connection was quickly cut as Steve and Chin stood to greet the clearly distraught woman with tracks of dried tears obscuring undoubtedly normally perfect make-up.

"Ms. Osaki, how's Milo doing?" Steve asked very carefully. The woman took a deep breath, clearly trying to compose herself.

"Mr. Harrison's waiting on the doctor's now. They're running tests but they managed to stabilize him. They don't... they can't tell what's wrong with him yet," she added the last part barely at a whisper. Chin and Steve shared a knowing look, they could guess what was wrong with the kid and they were pretty sure it had something to do with this Vagner character.

"We're on this case, believe that Ms. Osaki," Steve felt the need to add. "And we'll make sure whoever hurt your children are brought to justice." The distraught woman closed her eyes clearly fighting another onslaught of tears before shaking her head. Obviously she was a woman used to suffering and used to covering up her tears at a moments notice. A seasoned abuse victim if Steve ever saw one.

"When we came in, they asked if we knew what Milo was wearing when he was brought in, like they weren't sure who he was," the woman began. She looked between Chin and Steve as her bottom lip quivered a little. "Jesse's here isn't he?" she squeaked. When neither Chin nor Steve found their voice to reply, the woman took a deep breath. "Is he going to be okay?" she dared asked. Finally Steve realized staying silent was just doing more harm than good.

"Chin can you go grab us all some coffee?" he asked. Chin didn't need to be told twice, honestly he looked grateful not to have to break the news to an already distraught mother. Once the Hawaiian was gone, Steve ushered the woman to a quieter area of the waiting room and sat her down.

"What happened to Jesse?" Ms. Osaki asked again.

"This is going to be hard to hear, Ms. Osaki but Jesse was confirmed as the one who took my partner and his nurse," Steve said with as level voice as he could manage. "When we caught up to them Jesse had a gun and he... tried to take his own life." For a moment, the woman in front of him looked like someone had turned her to stone. A second later and although her face remained as still as marble, there was no stopping a fresh flow of tears from rolling down her cheeks.

"This is my fault," she suddenly said. "Both my boys, my ex-husband... I caused this, this is all my fault!" Steve grabbed the woman gently by the shoulders and tried to ground her with a very reassuring squeeze.

"This is NOT your fault," he said firmly. "Ms. Osaki, look at me." The woman took another wide-eyed second but did so. Steve made sure he had her eye when he said;

"You're a victim of terrible abuse and your sons are as well. We're still working on how but we believe both of them among other youth of Oahu were targeted. Jesse was still in surgery last I heard but I'll make sure you're the first to know about his condition when I do." After a slight pause, Steve backed off slightly and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Ma'am the best thing you can do for those boys right now, is make sure you're there for them when BOTH of them need you. I know that's a lot to ask, I know it might seem overwhelming but the only way to help this situation is to make sure these kids have a chance."

"You're right," Ms. Osaki said finally managing to wipe away her tear; Then added, "Do you think either of them will ever forgive me?"

"You don't need to ask their forgiveness, Ms. Osaki," he replied. "You just need to ask for their patience and I'm sure, if what you and the woman who's looked after Jesse say is true, those kids will have no problem giving you just that." This time when the woman before him smiled it wasn't forced, it was hardly lighting up the sun but it was an appreciative smile.

"Thank you Commander, I mean that," she replied. Steve gave her a smile though it as well wasn't as strong as he would have liked it to be. Just then the woman's cell phone started ringing and she snapped it out of her pocket.

"Thomas what's going on!?" After a pause the woman was on her feet and racing towards the elevators. Steve stood to follow only to be stopped by a familiar looking face jogging toward him.

"Steve!" Nurse Ben Mokulele called. The Navy SEAL started toward the man only to be grabbed by the wrist and dragged into, of all things, a supply closet.

"What are we doing in here Ben?" Steve asked at a hushed whisper.

"We don't have long," Ben hissed. "Ms Osaki's twins are presenting with similar symptoms. The doctor's are going to give the same stuff they've just brought in to help Danny but there's a problem and no one's listening to me! They all think I'm under stress and paranoid brah! And I ain't no lolo!" Steve could clearly tell the man was distraught so he gripped his shoulders.

"I'm listening to you Ben," he said calmly. "You've done nothing but help my partner and I'll return the favor if I can but you need to calm down first." Thankfully the nurse took a breath, once, twice and again before looking Steve in the eye.

"That kid, the one who took me and Danny, he's sick and not mentally I mean there's something physically wrong with him! I'm thinking the other kid that was just brought in, his twin has something wrong with him too, right!? He's been poisoned too hasn't he!? They're all going to get the same drugs, aren't they!?" the hysterical nurse hissed.

"Ben, calm down!" Steve urged. Then a feeling of dread washed over him and his mouth went dry. "Did Dr. Cross tell you something? Is Danny in danger?" The nurse, clearly shaken, shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"That's just it Steve, I got hold of the hospital records," he replied. "There's only one common denominator."

"That being?" Steve asked carefully.

"Cross," Ben replied wide-eyed. "He's been treating Danny, he's been consulting on Jesse Palaumalei'lei's case and in the past several months he's done a bunch of free clinics for homeless or abused Hawaiian youth one of which Milo Osaki had to attend to work off some community service. There has to be a coincidence but no one is listening to me! I can see a damn pattern brah! I'm a nurse not an idiot!"

"Ben… BEN!" Steve hissed coming short of slapping his hand over the man's mouth. On instinct the smaller man quieted himself and looked at Steve for some sort of direction. "I believe you," Steve said.

"You do?"

"You saved my friend's life when you had no reason to do so," Steve replied. "You had even more reason to save yourself to get back to your girl and kids so yeah, I'm listening. Look, do you know where Dr. Cross is now? I'll ask him some questions and figure this out okay?" Ben slumped his shoulders in relief but also with a bit of hopelessness.

"That's the problem," he replied. "Cross went on a break and never clocked back in." With a clearly heavy heart the nurse dropped his gaze to the floor. "He's in the wind and no one in the hospital has any idea where he's at." Turning to the door Steve was ready to go on a man-hunt just as his cell phone rang in his pocket.

He whipped it out quickly as he exited the room looking left and right as if he'd suddenly find the missing doctor.

"McGarrett," he grunted.

"Boss," Kono replied. "H.P.D. just picked up a body."

"I'm a little busy here Kono," Steve said as he jogged toward the nurses station to get a home address for his new suspect. "Who is it?" he asked distractedly.

"Dr. Hansen Cross," his teammate replied instantly. The Navy SEAL's mission came to a stand still, forced to do so in shere disbelief.

"As in…"

"As in the Doc treating Danny," Kono said with great emotion. "He's dead."

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><p><strong>Uh... worth the wait? I hope? I'd love some reviews and yes, I'm already working on the next chapter it should be finished soon.<strong>

**Thanks again everyone!**

**Oz**


	9. Tick Tock McGarrett

**Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and is reviewing/favoriting/following still. I had a rough go of things recently in my life and getting over my writers block with your encouragement has kept me going.**

**To be fair, I recently had a computer destroyed losing over 55 documents of my writing. Serves me right for not triple checking how and where I saved the drafts, eh?**

**That said someone once told me "Lost writing is only a first draft, your second will be a thousand times better."**

**Thanks all! **

**ON WITH THE SHOW!**

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><p>Steve McGarrett looked around him and frowned a frown worthy of the angriest of men. He stood in the middle of Dr. Cross's living room with a deep flame or rage and anger in his gut. He was angry at himself, he was angry at those who went after innocent people, he was angry at Five-0... He was just plain angry.<p>

Cross' body had been found by some hikers a half hour from the hospital. The man had been left, half buried in a shallow grave and preliminary findings showed his neck was snapped with professionally trained accuracy.

Which made Steve even angrier at the thought that not only were they trying to stop a mad scientist but now it appeared they had a killer for hire to watch out for as well. It also seemed like every time Five-0 thought they might have something, a curve ball would come at them so hard they'd be set back several hours if not days of work. A killer for hire was just another person or thing to look for and find out who or why they'd been hired.

More so, the drugs that were supposedly necessary to help Danny and the twins had come into the hospital but considering the nature of Dr. Cross' death and involvement the new doctors looking after the three were having the drugs tested and retested to make sure they'd help and not hurt.

Steve appreciated the prudence, he really did but at the same time the idea that Danny was still suffering and a potential life saving drug was just down the hall didn't sit right. Nor did it sit right that they'd practically lost another man because now Chin was pretty much on security detail making sure everyone who came in and out of the twins and Danny's room was thoroughly vetted and had a background check.

It was again an unavoidable thing but frustrating none the less particularly to a man like Steve who didn't like wasting so much time and energy when they knew who the culprit was.

A hand landed on the Navy SEAL's shoulder and like the trained professional he was, Steve grabbed the offending appendage and prepared to throw his attacker over his shoulder only to stop at the last second.

Raleigh, who'd come along with Steve to the crime scene, raised an eyebrow and carefully withdrew his hand from the threatening grip.

"You okay?" the cyber crimes officer asked. Steve took a deep breath and looked to the room around him. They stood in the study of the doctor's expensive home while H.P.D. crime scene officers crawled all over looking for any detail or evidence.

"We should have figured out the connection sooner," Steve said with much self-hatred. "We'd be miles ahead of where we are in this investigation if we'd done a simple background check."

"There's no way you could have known," Raleigh replied. "You're a good man down and you weren't thinking someone who's done nothing but help you could be a suspect. Look Steve… I'm out of my league here. I need you to take a deep breath, forget what has and hasn't happened and keep moving forward. For my brother and for your partner, I need you to focus." The Navy SEAL felt a slight pang of guilt. Here he was beating himself up while standing right next to him was a man who'd lost someone dear to him.

True Danny wasn't Steve's blood brother but he could only the imagine the pain of losing the Jersey native would be something akin to a family member. It would be so with any of his Five-0 team mates.

"You're right," Steve replied trying to simmer down his anger.

"Okay," Raleigh nodded. "So what do we do now? Where do we go from here?" Steve looked around the study and the other H.P.D. officers.

"We strip this place down to the drywall," he said. "Top to bottom and then we go talk to Holtzman Vagner and see what he knows about all this."

"You think your NSA buddy is going to like that?" the cyber crimes officer asked.

"I could care less what he thinks," Steve snarled briefly letting his rage get away from him again. "If the NSA had come to us first and told us what was going on I'm pretty sure this investigation would be a hell of a lot farther along than it is right now."

"Amen to that," Raleigh replied. Just then an H.P.D. officer came up to the two men at a brisk pace with a laptop in his hands.

"Commander, we found this behind a false wall in the garage," the officer explained.

"Good work," Steve nodded as he handed the computer to Raleigh. The Navy SEAL was smart enough to know the lap top was best left in the hands of someone who knew a heck of a lot more about computers than he did.

With the praise given, Steve and the cyber officer took the laptop outside to the Navy SEAL's waiting truck. Raleigh but the lap top on the hood of the vehicle and booted it up. After a few minutes of brow furrowing and fast typing, the cyber officer broke through the security features of the lap top and started bringing up file folders.

Then Raleigh's eyes widened and he leaned in to the computer.

"You have GOT to be f***ing kidding me," he hissed.

"What?" Steve asked. "What is it?" The officer didn't answer, he simply turned the computer toward the Commander and pointed.

On the screen was a file that had been opened an in it were a list of video files all with dates and times. At the bottom of the list however was another file folder labelled, "Kama'aina Style". Now it was Steve's turn to go wide eyed.

"Is this…?"

"The originating IP address for that damn web site? Yeah, yeah it is," Raleigh snarled. He turned the lap top back to him and started once again to puruse the other items on it. As he continued, his eyes got wider and he started to shake his head. "Jesus, McGarrett there's all kinds of documents in here, genetic testing results, DNA profiles… I need to get this back to your office so I can really look into this and hopefully find something that connects Cross to Vagner."

"Alright," Steve nodded. "I'll make sure H.P.D. is set to take this place down to the studs then drive you back to H.Q."

"What are you going to do?" Raleigh asked.

"I'm going to introduce myself to Vagner," Steve replied.

"Alone?" the cyber officer said looking up from the laptop.

"He wont be expecting Five-0 to walk up to his door and ask him point-blank about his involvement with all this," Steve said. "And we need answers."

"What if he doesn't give you anything?" Raleigh questioned.

"Not an option," Steve answered. Then squaring his shoulders the Navy SEAL nodded and turned to find the lead H.P.D. on scene to give instructions.

Shortly thereafter Steve found himself alone in his truck on the way to Holtzman Vagner's rental home on the North Shore. Once he'd returned Raleigh to the office he'd told Kono and Chin via video chat what his plan was.

Needless to say the two cousins expressed much the same concern as Raleigh had about Steve going alone. They'd all offered to come with him but the problem was they were short man power and each of them already had important jobs to do that they knew they couldn't just drop. They'd still reached a compromise however and Steve had agreed for H.P.D. backup to meet him at the home just in case.

Now a few blocks from the home Steve was ready for answers when his cell phone started buzzing away. Not wanting to pull up to a potential suspects home on the phone, Steve pulled to the side of the road and answered.

"McGarrett."

"This is the second time…" said a tired and weary voice. "The second time… I'm calling you to ask, the hell is the matter with you?" Steve couldn't help himself, he smiled. It wasn't a full-blown fiery rant but all things considered, he'd take his partner's scolding.

Before Steve had hung up with Chin at the hospital he'd asked the man for an update. Danny was holding on and the fluids seemed to be helping until they could administer what they hoped to be a cure. Jesse was out of surgery but still unconscious and showing similar signs of whatever was ailing Danny and Milo was stable but had a bad reaction to some antibiotics and was currently unconscious as well.

It drove Steve nuts knowing the two kids who could probably shed a whole lot of light on what was going on were incapacitated but at the same time he'd stop blaming them for what was going on. Hell, a little less tough love from his dad after his mother's death and a little more bad influences and Steve could have ended up just as messed up.

That said, Steve left Chin with a final message to call him the second either of the twins woke up so they could get some answers. With that, Steve had gone on his solo journey to Dr. Vagner's home on his own mission at hand.

"It's fine Danny, no dark alley's this time," Steve replied. "How did you even find out where I was going?"

"Chin ratted you out the second I woke up," Danny dead-panned. In the background, Steve just managed to hear the Hawaiian detective say;

"No cool brah."

"It's fine Danny," Steve said with a chuckle. "It if makes you feel better I do have H.P.D. backup on its way to meet me."

"Uh huh," Danny wheezed sarcastically. "And how far out are THEY?" Doing some quick mental calculations the SEAL answered.

"45 minutes give or take," he replied. "There was a pileup on the Pali so they got a bit held up and this isn't really a priority run." There was a pause before Danny spoke again.

"N'I'm guessing you're practically on this crazy doc's doorstep aren't you?" he croaked. "Are you out of your ever-loving mind or do you just have a death wish?" Rolling his eyes Steve switched the phone from one ear to another so it too could share in the verbal abuse.

"Look Danno, this guy has planned out every detail to the last dotted I and crossed T," he explained. "The worst thing that happens is he cites me for harassment and tells me to get off his property. We don't have any solid evidence on him save his writings but that doesn't connect him to anything that's going on. I'll be fine."

"I'll be fine, he says," Danny grumbled. "Babe, this guy is using disillusioned street kids to beat up people and kill a cop. Manipulating people is a sport for nuts like this so what's stopping you from thinking he isn't just waiting for you to show up so he can take you out for the biggest spectacle yet?" By the end of the semi-rant Steve could hear his friend straining to breath and keep on speaking.

"I can take care of myself, Daniel," Steve replied. "He's a doctor not a trained soldier like me. I'm going in with my eyes open and backup will be here soon… Now you sound like you should get some more rest buddy, I'm sure the good drugs will be along shortly."

"You get yourself killed and the first line of your eulogy is going to be, "I told him so"," Danny slurred out. Steve laughed, he knew Danny was still far from okay but even the short interlude with the man had the Navy SEAL feeling like maybe all hope wasn't lost.

"As long as you're giving the eulogy Danno, I could care less what you say," Steve replied. He heard a quiet snort of laughter and something muttered that he didn't quite get but soon enough the phone was picked up again.

"He's out cold, Steve," Chin said over the line. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thanks Chin," Steve smiled to himself. "I'll be in touch."

"You'd better," came the reply. They two men said their goodbyes and at last Steve was once again on his way to Vagner's rental home.

Pulling up to the luxurious estate Steve parked his truck just outside the front door and walked up to the front door. His hand was just about to push the doorbell when the double doors before him opened.

Holtzman Vagner didn't look like a diabolical, soulless criminal at first glance… the purest of evil ones never did. But it only to a moment of looking the unassuming middle-aged man in the eye to know something there wasn't quite wired right. Be it the dull shine to the man's eyes, the un-blinking gaze or the slightly amused yet condescending smirk on the man's face… Steve knew he was looking into the face of pure evil.

"Mr. Holtzman Vagner?" Steve asked even though he knew from the photo this was the right man.

"Doctor," the man corrected. "And yes, I am he… I have to say Commander McGarrett, it's an honour even though I was expecting you to darken my door a lot sooner." Steve felt the hairs on the back of his neck stick up and it took everything he had not to reach for his weapon.

"Is that so?" Steve asked. "We'll I'm here now so if you don't mind MR. Vagner, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you." The man paused just a second to long for Steve's liking before stepping out of his doorway and waving the Navy SEAL inside.

"By all means," Vagner offered. Steve cautiously entered the house and made sure to check all the closest entrances and exits before turning back to the man who'd now closed the door. "What is it I can help Hawaii's finest with?"

"I'd like to know more about the work that got your medical license revoked," Steve said point-blank. "And I'd also like to know what you're doing here on Oahu." Vagner gave only the slightest of twitches in his right eye, clearly Steve's words had bothered him but still the creepy man kept right on smiling.

"All your questions will be answered in due course," he smiled. "But first, are you suffering from any sort of brain damage?" Caught of guard, Steve blinked then blinked again in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Brain damage, Commander, it's a simple question," Vagner replied. "Have you been contused recently?" Again Steve frowned not quite understanding where this line of questioning was going.

"No, not recently," he replied. "Why?"

"I just wanted to be sure, you see," Vagner replied.

"Be sure of what?" Steve asked cautiously. When the grin of the man before him widened and the psychotic glint got just a bit brighter Steve knew he was in trouble.

"That this wont kill you but it'll surely be most uncomfortable when you wake up," Vagner snarled.

Steve didn't stand a chance, from behind a thick and powerful arm wrapped around his neck and started applying pressure. He tried to call out only to have a gloved hand placed over his mouth firmly restraining his upper body to his attackers chest. As dark spots dance in his vision, Steve could just make out Vagner's delightedly satisfied face.

The Navy SEAL mentally kicked himself as he slowly started to lose consciousness.

He'd forgotten about the hired killer on the loose. A professional whose arms were now undoubtedly the ones wrapped around Steve's neck and face. His backup still a long way away.

"I told you so," Danny would say. And damn it all to hell, he'd be right.

Blackness took Steve's mind and thoughts to the tune of Holtzman Vagner's malicious and wicked laughter.

For a while, the Navy SEAL simply drifted in a haze of unconsciousness. He couldn't quite understand what was happening and he honestly couldn't remember how to care. However his bliss was not to be as soon enough sound started coming back to him. He could hear voices and it dawned on him that he wasn't alone.

Yet again that day his soldier instincts kicked in and fight or flight was initiated in full effect.

"…E's waking up!" said a voice. Steve panicked, he started to rise knowing he had to get away. He wasn't in any condition to fight off his attackers so he needed to find a place to hide and recover.

Unfortunately his attackers were stronger than he was… or he incredibly weak as several hands held him down.

"Keep him down… Christ keep him down!" a voice said. "Commander! Commander McGarrett you're okay, you're safe but I need you NOT to move right now!"

Safe? Steve thought, he settled his struggle only a tad realizing that voice was not that of Dr. Vagner.

"That's it," the voice said again in a soothing tone. "Okay Commander, I'm going to need you to open your eyes for me."

I can do that, Steve thought to himself. However his first attempt was less than successful, his eyelids felt like they were made of lead.

Why can't I do this? Steve once again asked himself. Apparently he may have said it out loud because the next response from the voice answered his question.

"It looks like you've had a lot of fairly rapid blood loss Commander," came the response. "I know it's a struggle but I need to make sure you're back with us."

Taping into his training, Steve grunted then forced his heavy lids open. At first everything was blurry, shapes and blobs moved around him but one was particularly close.

"Welcome back," the blob with the voice said. After blinking several times Steve's vision cleared and he found himself laying on a hard surface with two paramedics standing on either side of him and a gaggle of H.P.D. officers all around.

"W'happn'd?" Steve grunted. One of the nearest H.P.D. officers stood forward as the paramedic continued to fiddle with something on Steve's chest.

"When we pulled up the front door was open sir," the officer replied. "We came in and found you… like this and immediately called for an ambulance."

"S'wrong with me?" Steve said becoming more and more aware he was being watched carefully so he didn't get up.

"Nothing serious so far as we can tell," the paramedic said, though his tone betrayed him as it was laced with concern.

"Don't lie to me, why wont you let me get up?" Steve asked. The first paramedic looked at the second who gave him a stern look in return. Finally the first one turned back to Steve and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Someone's put a central line into you," he explained. "No doubt they drew several pints of blood for whatever reason and…" when the medic hesitated Steve's concern grew ten-fold.

"What?" he demanded becoming aware of the biting pain coming not just from his chest but his thigh as well. "What's wrong with my leg?" he spat.

"It looks like you've got a surgical incision," the paramedic replied. "It's about four inches long and it's been stitched up professionally but we aren't taking any chances. We're just working on transporting you out of here so a doctor can remove the line and check out your leg. It's why we need to keep you still."

"Steve!" Kono appeared in the room at a good sprint and the second she laid eyes on him, her gaze widened and she got as close as she could to his side.

"Hey Kono," Steve said weakly. The Hawaiian woman rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"This is why you wait for back-up," she said. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked the paramedic.

"Once we pushed the fluids he came around quite quickly and he's pinking up by the second," the medic replied. "Obviously we're still taking him to the hospital for further tests though."

"I'll ride with you," Kono nodded.

"No, Kono… you need to help Raleigh with the laptop," Steve said as the paramedics started to ready their stretcher.

"Five-0 needs to make sure every able person stays that way," she replied. "Besides," she added with a grin, "I wanna see the look on Danny's face when you try and defend your way out of this one." Steve sighed with a wince as the two paramedics with the help of some H.P.D. officers gently and carefully moved him onto the stretcher ready for transport.

"Any chance we can keep this between us Kono?" he asked.

"Not on your life," the woman replied promptly. "Don't think Chin's any happier about this either, boss." With a frown, Steve turned to the paramedic who'd drawn him from unconsciousness and now stood at his head ready to move.

"You should have left me knocked out," he grumbled. The paramedic just smiled warmly before nodding to his partner to start moving.

"Don't worry, the scans will take at least a few hours once we get you to the hospital," he said helpfully. "Long enough to come up with a good explanation for your friends." Thinking of just how much poking and prodding he was going to have to injure to figure out what the hell had been done to him, Steve groaned.

"Thanks," he replied sarcastically as Kono gave a chuckle.

They were almost to the ambulance, when Steve suddenly realized that house had been a crime scene.

"Kono… Vagner," he said. As he did so he became increasingly more aware so of just how tired and hurt his body was.

"Got H.P.D. searching everywhere in a five-mile radius," Kono replied. "Crime scene is going over the house top to bottom."

"There was… ugh... another guy… hired professional I think," Steve added with a slur. "Aah… Snuck up on me."

"Figured as much, anyone who can take you out has to be a pro," Kono said with a gentle voice. "We're looking for any evidence we can, we'll get this guy but for now let's get you taken care of, okay brah?" Settling back a bit to the gurney and desperately ignoring the urge to try to look at what had been done to him, Steve nodded a tired nod. There was no avoiding it now and at least things were being handled until he could get back into the fight.

With that final thought in mind and knowing his team wouldn't let him down; Steve felt the blackness start to creep into his consciousness once again. He closed his eyes and despite the voices around him pleading with him to stay awake, he did what he believed no SEAL should ever do and surrendered to oblivion.

Not far off, watching the scene of swarming H.P.D. and the ambulance personnel Holtzman Vagner smiled to himself while an imposing figure next to him frowned.

"What do we do now?" the figure asked.

"We live to fight another day," Vagner replied. Then he looked down at the suitcase before him filled with a plethora of samples and grinned even wider. "And we figure out what makes McGarrett tick."

"What about all the other samples, don't you have enough?" the figure questioned though it was quite clear he didn't really care one way or the other.

"It's never enough," Vagner snapped hastily. However the man quickly calmed himself and calmly continued, "This worlds going to turn to ash and I'm going to be the flame that ignites it so I can create the utopia it was meant to be. A few more, just a few more and we'll be ready. We'll be ready and the world wont know what hit it." The figure beside the giddy man looked at him, raised an eyebrow but shook his head and shrugged.

"Whatever," he replied.

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><p><strong>Good? Great? WONDERFUL?! <strong>**Keep writing Fanfiction world! Hope you're still with me on this story and that you liked and will review this chapter.**

**More to come!**

**OZ**


	10. Broken Soldiers and Evil Plans

**So here we are again... thanks for the reviews and kind words that have been coming in from a lot of you. I hope this chapter helps finally give some answers as to what the heck is going on on the Island of Oahu! Lol**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>"I wanna look the idiot in the eye when I say it."<p>

Steve groaned and it wasn't because of the hours of tests and plethora of poking and prodding he'd gone through in the last four hours. He heard his partner's tired voice out in the hallway and part of him was angry of all the people in the hospital, none of them could stop the dying man from getting to his partner.

Seriously, of all the doctor's plus Chin and Kono it was amazing they couldn't stop the ill Jersey detective from finding his way to Steve's hospital bed side.

"I know Danny but… you really should be resting," Chin's voice of reason tried in clearly a last-ditch effort.

"And I will," Danny croaked. "Once I'm finished with Commander Dim bulb."

Steve sat back against the raised part of his hospital bed and waited. A moment later, the room door opened; Danny, deathly pale laden with IV's and being guided in by wheelchair, laid eyes on Steve.

For several seconds the two men just looked at each other. Chin who was apparently Danny's chariot pusher remained silent and stone faced while Ben, who'd made a reappearance grinned an amused grin.

"Steven," Danny wheezed.

"Daniel," Steve replied. A breath later and Steve decided to breach the troubled waters he opened his mouth but was silenced when Danny raised an IV tapped hand stopping him. They stayed like that for several more moments before the detective's eyes narrowed and he leaned in to Steve's bed and said;

"Did I or did I not tell you?"

"Danny…"

"No, did I… or did I not tell you?" Danny asked. Steve rolled his eyes and ignored the pinch of pain on his leg.

"Fine, yes, you told me to wait for back up and I didn't wait long enough even though backup was still on its way," the SEAL replied not willing to completely concede to his partner. Danny didn't seem to accept the response.

"Did I or did I not… tell you!?" he snarled with a cough.

"You did tell me Danno," Steve relented. "And I screwed up."

"I told you so!" Danny barked. Steve winced but not at his own pain, he winced when Danny's exclamation had him doubling over with a painful sounding cough. Ben's smile disappeared and he rushed to the man's aid.

"It's gotten into his lungs," Ben explained. He checked the oxygen tank that was providing Danny's nasal cannula with oxygen and turned a dial no doubt increasing the flow. Within moments, Danny's breathing started to even out. "Better?" Ben asked.

"I'd be better if my partner didn't feel it necessary to force me to come visit him," Danny harrumphed.

"I would have come to see you to explain Danno," Steve sighed. "But they've got me locked down right now while they figure out what happened."

"What happened," Danny snorted. "You were an idiot, a psycho and his pit-bull took you down and did god knows what to your leg… The doctor's tell you anything?" The last question was delivered with genuine Danny concern which eased Steve's mind a bit. Sure his friend was pissed at him but in the end, their well-being trumped any argument.

"Not yet," he replied. "Still waiting on results. They're waiting for scans to see if they have to open up the incision and do an exploratory surgery to see what's going on." Danny cringed.

"That sounds pleasant," he replied.

Just then the doctor that had been treating Steve opened the door and stopped short at the new audience.

"Dr. Ma," Chin said.

"Detective Kelly, as vigilant as ever I see," the Doctor smiled warmly. Chin just gave the man a nod clearly he'd been doing his job vetting hospital staff. "Now, Commander," Dr. Ma said turning to join Danny at Steve's bed side. "Fortunately I'm here with good news. As far as the scans and blood work go, nothing foreign has been introduced into your tissues."

"Again… that sounds pleasant," Danny muttered sarcastically. Steve just gave him a look before turning back to the doctor.

"So I'm good to go? I can get back to work?" he asked. This warranted an eye roll from everyone in the room but the doctor. That said, even the doctor looked a little amazed.

"Far from it," Dr. Ma replied. "You've had surgery, sanctioned or not the minimum recover time even for minor surgeries is a few days. Added to that it seems samples have been taken from your soft tissues and marrow… it's going to be painful for a few weeks. Now fortunately with that central line we were able to pump you full of the necessary fluids to get you relatively healthy again but what you need now is rest and lots of it." Steve blanched for a second, Chin and Danny did the same at the information they'd just been given.

"Samples?" Chin asked before Steve could even find the ability to speak. The doctor nodded.

"Yes," he replied. "Someone's gone to some length to collect samples that I can only see one benefit of."

"That being?" Danny asked.

"DNA and genetic material," the doctor replied. Then he frowned in confusion, "Usually such things are only taken off cadavers but whoever it was that did this was talented enough to make sure the commander not only survived but would suffer minimal damage in the long run."

"Wonderful," Danny muttered.

"Why would someone take my… DNA?" Steve asked. Just saying it out loud sounded gross, like he'd been violated in some way.

"I can't answer that," Dr. Ma replied. "All I can do is tell you, you need to rest and come back to the hospital immediately should anything not seem right. Other than that, I don't see any reason why you can't be released in the morning." Steve squared his shoulders and readied himself for an argument, sitting himself up to do. Amazingly though, Danny once again stopped him by raising his hands and giving a slight shake of his head.

"Please, Steve… dying man here, let me," he said. Sensing he was about to be made fun of but ultimately his partner knew the potential sacrifices it took to be a good soldier, Steve eased back on his bed and gave a nod. Danny smiled and in turn looked at the doctor. "Doc, that's not going to happen," the ailing detective said.

The doctor opened his mouth but much to Steve's amusement, Danny cut him off too.

"Five-0 is working a very sensitive, TIME sensitive case at the moment and as it's leader Steve here needs to be a part of that," the detective explained. "He's a trained Navy SEAL as he likes to shove in our faces every chance he gets…" Steve grinned at that comment. "… and he's more than capable of compartmentalizing any aches and pains that he may or may not have for the greater good. We've got kids and families at stake here Doc and you're looking at one of the men who stands in the way of that. So, hat in hand, my dear stupid, maniac of a self-sacrificing partner, would like to ask that you give him a shot of whatever you need to so he can get back to work right now. When the case is closed he will come back and you're all his, capiche?"

By the end of the rant, Danny was wheezing so badly that Ben once again dialed up the oxygen levels that were being fed into the man's system. Still, the detective turned to Steve with a raised eyebrow ignoring the others in the room.

"That sound about right?" he hacked. Steve, concerned for his friend but grateful for the understanding, smiled and nodded.

"That's about it," he replied. "But no hat in hand, I'm leaving with our without permission."

"Coarse you are," Danny grunted. Then he leaned forward a bit only to be caught by Ben's gentle arm. At his lack of colour, Dr. Ma got to his side as well.

"Take him back to his bed," the doctor ordered. Ben nodded and started to move Danny without even consulting the man. "And Ben?"

"Doc?" the nurse replied.

"Make sure he stays there while I fight this one off." Ben laughed while Danny and Steve both gave him a look of malcontent.

"I'll come visit soon Danno," Steve promised. Danny clearly to tired to speak anymore just gave a wave as Ben wheeled him from the room.

When the two had gone, Steve turned to Chin.

"What's his doctor saying?" he asked honestly.

"Ask him yourself," Chin said nodding toward Dr. Ma. "He's in charge of this case hospital wise, had him vetted then checked him out myself."

"Yes my wife appreciated the phone call at her office," Dr. Ma smirked. "I have some cousins on Kauai if you'd like their number too."

"Already checked them out Doc," Chin smiled right back. Steve gave a chuckle before turning a serious eye on the doctor once again.

"So how's Danny doing? Honestly," he asked. When the smirk left the doctor's face, Steve's concern grew.

"He's a very sick man," Dr. Ma replied. "As Nurse Mokulele said, as much as we're fighting this thing off it has gotten into his lungs and might need a ventilator while the treatment is administered."

"But the treatment WILL be administered, right?" Steve asked. Finally some good news came when the doctor nodded.

"We've finished making sure the drugs sent from the mainland are safe to use," he explained. "As soon as the detective is back in his room we're going to move him to the ICU for precautionary reasons and start the treatment."

"That's some good news at least," Steve sighed. "How about the Osaki twins?"

"As soon as we see signs the detective is responding to the treatment we'll start the two of them on the drugs as well," Dr. Ma replied.

"You're using Danny as a Guinea pig?" Steve asked a bit surprised.

"It was Danny's idea, Steve," Chin spoke in the doctor's defense. "He wanted the doctor to make sure." Steve sighed again, trust Danny to be just as self-sacrificing as he was.

"Okay," he nodded. Then gingerly he swung his legs over the edge of the bed readying to stand.

"This will hurt," Dr. Ma said holding out a hand.

Did it ever.

The second Steve put weight on his leg white-hot shards of pain ran the length of his entire body top to bottom. It took a second of holding on to the doctor before it finally ebbed to a tolerable level.

"Thanks," Steve winced.

"You sure about that, no overnight stay?" the doctor asked. Steve just gave the man a smile and shook his head.

"I got this," he replied. The doctor's pager went off and he gave it a quick glance before raising an eyebrow.

"Impeccable timing," he said. "Jesse Palaumalei'lei just woke up. Can I assume you'd like to speak with him?"

"He's the key to a lot of this," Steve nodded. He took a step and winced as the pain rode through him again. Thankfully though, Chin was right there putting a supportive hand on his elbow. Dr. Ma just sighed and led the men from the room.

Jesse Palaumalei'lei didn't look so much sick as he did, broken. Like someone had taken an innocent soul, exposed it to all the horrors of hell and left it to fend for itself. The young man lay in his hospital bed staring up at the ceiling blinking only when his eyeballs needed moisture when Steve, Chin and the doctor arrived.

"It's good to see you awake Jesse," Dr. Ma said. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," Jesse replied robotically. The doctor shared a look with Steve and Chin before going to the young man's side and checking his vitals. Soon enough, the doctor stepped back and gave a smile.

"Well your vitals are strong enough," Dr. Ma said. "Very soon we'll start you on a treatment to cure you of the disease you've been infected with." At that Jesse closed his eyes and took a deep breath before a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Don't bother," he said quietly. There was something so damaged, so lost and so upset that Steve stepped forward and couldn't help but clutch the kids shoulder. At first Jesse flinched but then he opened his eyes and met Steve's. "I'm not a bad guy," the young man said.

"I'm starting to get that," Steve replied. Then he smiled knowing it would be the best way to get the information he needed. "Jesse, I know things have been hard for you and you're tired but right now I need you to help me and my team. All we want to do is make sure people like Auntie Leyla are safe… can you give me anything to make sure that happens?" Jesse held the Navy SEAL's gaze for a moment longer before turning his back to the ceiling.

"Did Auntie tell you I have eidetic memory?" he asked quietly. Steve stood a bit taller and glanced at Chin who looked equally as confused and impressed.

"No she didn't," Steve replied turning back to the kid. "So… what does that mean?"

"It means…" Jesse said softly and more tears rolling down his cheeks. "I remember everything. I remember the look on their faces after they were beaten up. I remember watching my twin be a part of it… I… I don't want to see things like that but I can't stop remembering… It just won't go away." By now the poor kid was in full-blown tears yet any noisy sobs were still being resisted. Steve could only feel for the young man and he gently but firmly increased his grip on Jesse's shoulder.

"We're not here to get you Jess," the Navy SEAL said. "We just want to help."

"So did I," Jesse replied quietly. "But everything just got out of hand and I just got tired of trying… of remembering… of being alone."

"I can understand that," Steve replied. Then he moved a bit blocking Jesse's view of Chin and the doctor in hopes to even the odds for the young man. "I can imagine everything that's going around in your head is making your life seem unbearable right now. But believe it or not, there are people who care about you and want to get you the help you need; myself included okay?" Jesse closed his eyes and for a moment, Steve thought the young man had gone back to sleep.

He glanced back and Chin and the doctor who shrugged in response. However, when Steve turned back to the young man, he found Jesse once again looking right at him.

"What do you want to know?" he asked quietly. Steve had a thousand questions he wanted to ask, a number of them he thought pertinent to the investigation. One look into Jesse's lifeless gaze and the Navy SEAL knew he had to tread very very lightly meaning the tougher questions would have to be eased into.

Auntie Leyla's warning of if Jesse were pushed he'd react badly rang clear in Steve's head. He pulled up a chair beside the young man's bed and sat down.

"Why don't you tell me how you knew you had a twin?" he asked. Jesse sighed and shook his head.

"It was an accident really," he replied. "After that first hoa- tourist got beat up there was this guy, started showing up around the rec-centers. The third time I saw him at a different rec-center I knew something was up. He was only hanging out with locals and once he got kicked out for fighting with one of the white youth workers."

"How did that lead you to Milo?" Steve asked. Jesse winced as he adjusted himself slightly but then carried on.

"Guys were calling him "The Samoan" but no one had a name," Jesse replied. "One day I see him talking to Troy and I knew Auntie Leyla would be pissed if Troy got into something bad so I got Troy out of there and followed the guy." Steve didn't know whether to be impressed or angry that Jesse, instead of contacting authorities simply decided to go vigilante. "This Samoan guy heads to a shack just outside Waikiki and there's a group of local kids there waiting for him. I over heard him talking about taking back our land and what Pele would want us locals to do. I was going to go to the cops brah but… then Milo pulled up."

"Must have been a shock," Steve sympathized.

"I found out I had a brother and a mother and they didn't want me," Jesse said with a bit of an edge. "Yeah, it was a shock," he added sarcastically. "Even more so when I watch him and the others beat the crap out of people for no reason. Then that cop in the alley..." Steve raised a calming hand to show he hadn't meant to upset the kid and tried to get things back on track.

"So you found out Milo was a part of things? What then?" he asked.

"I may not know the kid but when I found out how bad things were I knew I had to help him get out of that mess," Jesse shrugged.

"How bad were they?" Chin asked sensing it okay to join in.

"Like you two don't know brah," the young man snarled. "I got infected with a super bug and the NSA is runnin' around hunting some lolo doctor." Steve genuinely sat up straight with shock. It had taken his team a while to find out as much as they had. Hell, the only reason they knew of the NSA's involvement was because Agent Wells showed up on his doorstep. So the fact that Jesse knew so much was shocking.

"You're a smart kid to know so much," Steve replied. Jesse just looked away and shook his head wincing again.

"One time, I knew Milo was off the island with his mom so I went in in his place," Jesse replied. "All I had to do was paint on some fake tattoo and no one even questioned. The Samoan guy had food for everyone and said we were going to go out at dawn to teach another Hoale a lesson. While everyone else was sleeping, I heard the Samoan leave so I snuck out after him. A bit down the road he met up with Dr. Cross, I knew him from the clinic Auntie Leyla took her kids too when we got sick. Hadn't seen him in years but… I don't forget."

"Seems odd a guy who's hell-bent on scaring foreigners away would be meeting up with a white doctor," Steve said.

"They weren't all that friendly with on another," Jesse replied. "The doc looked pissed about something but the Samoan was bigger, shoved the doc around, took a canister of something from the guy and they went there separate ways."

"And you went back to the cabin?"

"Had too," Jesse said as if his actions had been the most normal thing in the world. "Next morning we head to a coffee shop on Manoa… you have to believe me I didn't know he was a cop when they took him out." Realizing Jesse had been there when Danny was beaten up made Steve see red for a moment but Chin's firm grip on his shoulder calmed him down.

"Jesse I'm trying to understand what possessed you to think you could take on so much all on your own," Steve said as calmly as possible.

"Milo was happy with his mom," Jesse said. "He just got mixed up with the wrong guys because she was too busy being a lawyer and not seeing what was really going on at those centers. I was going to get him away from everything and was ready to do it."

"What changed?" Chin asked.

"I went back to see if your partner was okay," Jesse asked. "Only someone else was there, he did something to him and took off."

"Do you know who?" Steve asked.

"Not at first but then I did some research and found out it was some dude named Holtzman Vagner," Jesse replied. Again, Steve found himself shocked at how much Jesse actually knew.

"You're sure it was him you saw?" he asked. Jesse frowned as if he'd been insulted.

"With my memory? Yeah, I'm sure," he scoffed. "Just as sure as I am that Milo has no idea what's going on and that he was giving up the Samoan's secrets to the NSA."

"Jesse, I have to ask, how do you know so much?" Steve asked. Jesse shrugged and winced again showing definite signs the questioning would have to come to an end soon and at least for today. Steve was all to aware of Dr. Ma looming in the corner with an increasing frown on his face every time he glanced at the young man's monitors.

"M'hacker," Jesse replied. "Hacked H.P.D. to get facial recognition, when I didn't find Agent Wells I widened my search and eventually found him with NSA. Got the information on Vagners that way too." For a stunned second Steve just looked at the kid in front of him. He'd assumed this kid was just a simple youth from the get go, caught up in something bad. Now the kid appeared to be quite intelligent with serious emotional trauma.

"And the injection you had Ben give my partner?" Steve asked trying to wrap his head around things.

"It was all I could get from Vagner's home," Jesse shrugged. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head. "This just got more and more complicated," he whispered tears starting a new. "Then I didn't know what to do because I knew I was going to get in big trouble. I just… All I knew was that Milo had a mom to come home too. I saw how they were together, she would have been real upset to lose her only kid."

"She's your mom too, Jesse," Steve said. "And she'd very much like to meet you. She had a hard life that led to you being separated from her but she never wanted to give you up."

"But she did," Jesse wheezed. The monitors beside him started beeping in warning. "She did because I wasn't good enough, I was different and she must have known it."

"You have to know that's not true," Chin tried. However his plea fell on deaf ears as Jesse's breathing started to become quite labored. Dr. Ma jumped in all but shoving Steve out of his chair and out of the way.

"Jesse? I need you to try to take a few deep breaths for me okay?" the doctor instructed. The young man tried to do as he was told but when it became apparent he was failing the doctor signed and produced a syringe injecting into Jesse's IV. Soon enough the young man's eyes fluttered closed and finally his breathing leveled out. After having checked Jesse's oxygen levels, Dr. Ma turned to the two Five-0 members.

"If I'd known you were going to get so in-depth I might have changed my mind about letting you gentlemen in here," he said clearly not impressed.

"We need answers doc," Steve replied.

"And I understand that Commander, but as you can clearly see this kid needs a hell of a lot more than physical healing," Ma explained. "I'd ask that you wait at least 24 hours before you come back here." Steve opened his mouth to protest but Chin cut him off.

"We understand Doctor," he nodded. "We'll get out of your hair, thank you for letting us get something to work with." Dr. Ma looked a little bit more content with the response so he gave a nod then motioned them toward the door.

Soon enough Chin, Kono and Steve all gathered in the hospital cafeteria to regroup. Steve and Chin filled Kono in on what they'd learned from Jesse and then she in turn told them what she and Raleigh dug up so far.

"Turns out Cross and Vagner went through their first year of med-school together before Vagner transferred to a different school," she explained. "It looks like somehow Cross ended up doing all of Vagner's dirty work."

"Makes sense why the NSA couldn't find anything on Vagner since he got here," Steve nodded.

"Yeah, we found some triple encrypted files that Raleigh and I were working on when I got the call about you, Steve," Kono explained. As much as he wanted to tell Kono she should have kept working he wouldn't deny it was nice to have someone drop everything and come running if you were sick or injured.

He could see how Jesse would have felt like no one would come for him and the more he got involved the less anyone would be willing to try.

"So we keep working on the files and we up the man hunt for Vagner," Steve nodded. "Also Kono, I need you to look at H.P.D's database for anyone with the nickname "The Samoan"."

"On it boss," he nodded. She started to stand just as her cell phone rang so she pulled it off her hip. "Kalakaua," she answered. A moment later and her eyebrows went up. "Hang on I've got Steve and Chin here. I'll put you on speaker." She put the phone down on the table between them. "It's Raleigh," she said.

"Raleigh what do you got for us?" Steve asked.

"I managed to decrypt on the smaller files," Raleigh said over the line. "It's a map of all the hospitals on the Hawaiian islands."

"The most vulnerable to succumb to an attack," Chin replied.

"Yeah," Raleigh replied. "But here's the thing, Mercy is labeled "Ground Zero"." At that, Steve, Chin and Kono all looked at each other with deep concern.

"As in the hospital we're all standing in right now?"

"Yeah," Raleigh answered with a heavy tone. "And there's a date." Steve was almost afraid to ask but knew it had to be done;

"When?"

"The day after tomorrow," the cyber-crimes officer said then added, "And something tells me this is no idle threat." Steve winced as his freshly damaged leg decided to give him a throbbing reminder. A mad man had his DNA and was potentially going to use it to do serious damage to the Islands of Oahu.

One only had to look at all the senseless damage Vagner had already done to know the response to Raleigh's concerned comment.

"No," Steve said looking his teammates in the eyes. "No it's not."

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><p><strong>Hope you liked the "I told you so" broment, I had fun writing it! Also I know there's been a lack of Danny for the last chapter and this one but don't worry... Danny's not done in this story yet.<strong>

**Neither is the whumpage. *grins wickedly* Next chapter will definitely have a bit more excitement than this one.**

**Love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading.**

**Oz**


	11. Pan's Lost Boys

**I am on a ROLE! This story is really speaking to me right now... could have something to do with real life pissing me off to no end but I'm grateful for somethings and I'm grateful for my writing. I am also most grateful to readers like you!**

**So, to that end, here is another chapter... the end of this story is ny! Lol But a few more chaps before we get there.**

**Thanks for all the reviews and favorites and for anyone reading. Ps... Is it time for the next season to start yet? Ha ha**

**Oz**

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><p>Danny didn't feel much like celebrating; in fact he felt exactly the opposite. The doctor had come in a short while ago and told him the treatment was working. His body was responding and after days of agony of his body betraying him, he was finally on the mend.<p>

In fact, his fever had actually come down two degrees. It was still too high but after a full night of rest and drugs, it was steadily coming down and that had Dr. Ma all smiles.

Danny however wasn't so happy, he was actually quite miserable because the doctor's parting words had been; "You'll be out of here in no time." When Danny had asked him how soon the doctor cheerily replied; "When I think you're good and ready and no, your partner can't talk you out of that one."

The only saving grace was that the Osaki twins would now start the treatment as well. Danny just couldn't get the image out of his head of that lost look on Jesse's face before he tried to kill himself. Early that morning, Chin had stuck his head in and told Danny he and Steve had actually talked to Jesse for a short while. He'd briefly explained what had gone on and Danny felt even worse that he wasn't there to help ask the kid questions.

When he asked Chin if Steve had used the thumb screws on the kid, the Hawaiian detective laughed and admitted their fearless leader had actually done a good job. So the big lug was finally listening to Danny and taking it easy… and he was stuck in a hospital bed unable to see it.

Just then there was a quiet knock on Danny's hospital room door before it opened slowly. A petite but professional looking woman walked in the room hesitantly and with a great deal of concern in her eyes. Putting two and two together, Danny tried to wake himself up a little more. Steve, Chin and Kono had all told him about this woman and if there was one thing the detective hated almost as much as child abuse was spousal abuse.

"Ms. Osaki?" he asked in as gentle tone as he could manage. The woman swallowed but then nodded.

"I…" she started but then stopped before finally approaching the foot of his bed and looking him in the eye. "I don't know how to say how sorry I am Detective Williams. All this…" she waved her hand to the various instruments monitoring him. "… all because I wasn't strong enough for my boys; because I let a monster win."

"Lady I'd seriously like to know your definition of what's strong and what's not," he said. To that Ms. Osaki looked a bit startled so Danny put on his best smile. "Call me Danny."

"Mary," the woman replied a bit to shocked to say anymore.

"Mary," Danny repeated. "From what I hear you did what you had to to survive. The fact that you're standing here to apologize to me for something that isn't your fault… or even your sons fault says a lot. And you're a lawyer no less." The woman shook her head and took a breath fiddling with the edge of her blazer.

"I promise you I want to make things right," she said. "I want to be there for Jesse and I want to help Milo… and I want to make up for all the trouble they've caused for you and your team."

"The only trouble I've had recently is my partner not listening to me and crazy man running around abusing kids," Danny replied. Then after a pause he added, "If you want to help all I ask is that you be there for your boys. Something tells me Jesse and Milo are going to really need you in the days to come." Finally a smile dawned on the troubled woman's face and she nodded.

"I will," she promised. "I can do at least that much." Danny gave her a nod just as the room door opened and a man in scrubs came walking in. Instantly something in Danny's mind started stirring as the man seemed vaguely familiar but not enough that he could say he recognized the man.

"Ms. Osaki? Detective Williams?" the doctor asked.

"Yeah, and you are?" Danny replied.

"Dr. Heir," the man smiled. "Ms. Osaki the nurses told me I'd be able to find you here, Milo's showing some signs of waking up and I thought you'd like to be there when he does."

"Of course I would," Ms. Osaki replied. She turned to Danny and gave him a smile. "Thank you… sincerely for your forgiveness Detective. I'd like to visit again, hopefully with one or both of the boys."

"I'd like that," Danny smiled but it faded as he turned back to this doctor. "Have we met before?" he asked. The man shook his head.

"I don't think so," he replied. "Dr. Ma was called away on an emergency so I'm covering his rounds. I've only been at the hospital a few days." It was an acceptable explanation but still something in Danny's gut just wasn't happy.

"Are you sure we haven't met before?" he asked. The doctor moved past Ms. Osaki towards Danny's bedside with a calm smile on his face. It was only when he got close enough did the detective see the look in his eye. It wasn't the gaze of a normal man, it was one who was hiding something, a purely psychotic look that Danny had learned to spot after his years of being a detective.

"You've been through a lot, Detective," the "doctor" replied. "Dr. Ma has prescribed a mild sedative for you which I suggested you take while I show Ms. Osaki to her son."

"I'd rather not," Danny said playing along. "I'm finally able to stay awake for more than an hour so I'd like t-"

"Doctor's orders," the doctor interrupted. Before Danny could do anything the strange man emptied a syringe into his IV port. All Danny could do was feebly try to stop the man.

"What are you doing? He said he didn't want that!" Ms. Osaki barked out in the background.

"M, Mary… run," Danny did his best to call out. The woman turned to do so only to have the "doctor" wrap his arms around her thin waist and restrain her holding another syringe to her neck.

"Scream and you die," he hissed. Reaching out, Danny tried to stop the dark fog of unconsciousness take him but the sedative that had been introduced was to fast and to powerful. His last blurry image was of Ms Osaki's wide terrified eyes as she was dragged out of the room.

**OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL:**

Steve winced as he stepped down from his truck's cab; his leg still stung but after a few hours of rest, a shower and a swim, he was feeling refreshed and ready to get back into the fight.

While Kono and Raleigh had stayed at the office all night, Chin had stayed at the hospital to liaise with the director of Mercy to help him heighten security and make sure all non-essential personnel and patients were moved to other medical facilities. As Steve was forced to go home for a few hours and rest he made sure Chin knew to stress how serious the situation was; to get the governor involved if need be.

The Hawaiian detective had promised to do so, so with a reluctant heart but great fatigue Steve left.

But now he was back at 9 am. It was later than he would have liked but apparently his body really did need the extra sleep. He'd slept through two of his alarms only to be awoken by the garbage truck rolling by on the street outside.

Just as Steve was locking up his truck and getting ready to call Chin to see where he was; his cell phone rang on its own.

"Swear that guy is psychic," Steve muttered to himself in reference to the seasoned Hawaiian detective. He pulled out his phone and pressed it to his ear balancing a cup of coffee while he locked his door.

"Hey Chin I was ju-"

"Se've…" All at once, the Navy SEAL was running. He threw his coffee to the ground and forgot about everything else.

"Danny? What's wrong?"

"N'drug'd… M'ry's gone… got her… uhgn…" When a thump was heard and the Navy SEAL could no longer get a response his mind went on autopilot. He didn't even think of the elevator he went straight to the staircase bounding up the stairs three at a time.

He reached Danny's room just as Dr. Ma and Chin came running in the opposite direction. Curiously Chin had a black eye.

"They hell happened?!" Steve barked. He didn't even wait for an answer before busting into Danny's room and thankfully finding the man still there.

Unfortunately, Danny was slumped, not on the bed but in the chair next to it his cell phone on the floor at his feet and more than one of the IV's in his arm ripped out.

"Damn it," Dr. Ma hissed. A team of nurses undoubtedly called for assistance rushed in. "Get him in the bed and reattached to the monitors! I want blood work done ASAP! Commander, take care of your other man, we've got Detective Williams and right now you're just in the way."

Steve didn't get a chance to protest before the nurses were shoving he and Chin out the door. It was only once the door had closed and Steve tried to develop X-ray vision and see through it for a few moments did he realize his efforts were futile and turned to Chin to demand an answer.

The anger died on his lips as he found Chin leaning against the far wall holding his head in his hands and looking a bit pale.

"Hey," Steve said getting quickly to the man's side. "You okay?"

"I found Dr. Ma tied up in a janitor closet," Chin replied. "I went to help him out but then someone cold-cocked me in the head. Was out for a bit and could only get him free when I came too."

"Damn," Steve hissed. "Don't suppose you got a look at the guy." Chin shook his head but did reply.

"Dr. Ma gave a vague description… it sounds like Vagner," he said. Then added; "Steve, I'm sorry, I should have been more careful."

"This is not on you Chin," Steve replied. "I should have never have left Danny's side. Especially the danger this hospital is under."

"What do we do now?" Chin asked.

"We put this place on lock down," Steve said. "HPD guard on the twins and Danny and at every exit and entrance… This quack isn't getting away and something tells me he's still here. Call Kono and Raleigh; tell them to bring whatever they've got and to get here now to help with the search. I'm going to-"

"You're going to WHAT, Commander McGarrett?" Chin and Steve whirled around as a rather annoyed looking NSA Agent Brent Wells stormed up to them. Curiously the man wasn't in street clothes that he'd been wearing when he broke into Steve's home but rather a professional looking suit that made him look much more his age.

"Wells," Steve grumbled not to happy with the man's attendance at the moment. "You found your big boy pants, good for you."

"Not in the mood McGarrett," Wells snarled. "The hell do you think you're doing right now?" Steve raised an eyebrow glancing at Chin.

"I'm doing my job," he replied. "Something that would have been a lot easier if the NSA didn't get underfoot."

"I told you everything you even know about Vagner!" Wells spat. "You'd still be chasing your surfboard in the ocean if it weren't for me!"

"You really think so?" Steve chuckled. "Turns out you were paying attention to the wrong twin." At this the agent looked slightly perplexed but still angry.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Jesse Palaumalei'lei," Chin answered with a smug look to match Steve's.

"What about him?"

"He's an excellent hacker with a eidetic memory," Chin replied.

"Which means he had actually put together everything BEFORE you did and figured out who you were a long time ago," Steve added. "With or without you Five-0 would have found out more about this case than I'm guessing you ever would have and here's the thing… now we've got the twins and their mother on our side. You can put up or shut up in finding Vagner or you can head back to your superiors and tell them how badly you screwed things up." Wells looked like for a second he was actually considering which he'd rather do but then finally he rolled his eyes and waved a hand in the air.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked.

"I've got two of my people coming in, one's cyber crimes," Steve replied.

"Schwartz?"

"Yeah," Steve answered. "I want you to work with him in the surveillance room and also on the lap top we recovered from Dr. Cross' home." Something darkened in Wells' eyes and his face soured.

"Cross is dead?" he asked.

"Yes… you're supposed to be an undercover spy and you didn't know that?" he asked.

"I've been lying low," Wells replied. "With you picking up Milo my only link to the mob was gone. None of the others trusted me and guess what? With Vagner in the wind Peter Pan's lost boys aren't so harmless anymore."

"More dangerous than swarming and killing a cop?" Chin asked dubiously.

"Much," Wells nodded. "You guys here of a guy named "The Samoan"?" The name had Chin and Steve stiffening their spines.

"Only recently," Steve replied. "Who is he?"

"Not sure yet," Wells shrugged. "But he's taken charge of the "lost boys" and HPD's picked up two bodies already of foreign workers here on the Island. Both prelims show they were swarmed."

"Damn it," Steve snarled. "Who the hell is this Samoan guy?"

"We can answer that." Kono and Raleigh appeared from out of the elevators, both carrying backpacks and the Hawaiian carrying her tablet.

"Perfect timing you two," Steve said. "Things just went from bad to worse."

"No doubt to get even heavier," Raleigh sighed. He looked to Kono who turned her tablet around to the group bringing up the face of a very study looking and sharp-eyed Samoan man. But the picture wasn't just any picture, it was a standard military photo.

"Meet Jonas "The Samoan" A'Amakualenalena," Kono replied with perfect pronunciation. Wells winced.

"Try saying that 100 times fast," he muttered.

"It means swift, strong warrior," Chin snorted. "Appropriate right?"

"Yeah, he was dishonorably discharged six years ago for taking money from various private security companies in Afghanistan to protect their private interests," Kono explained.

"A mercenary," Steve said in disbelief. "This just keeps getting better and better; Hollywood would be jealous." Kono gave him a smile before continuing on.

"He's been in and out of prison since but never for anything major," she said. "I'm thinking hiding in plain sight."

"You'd be right," Wells nodded. "We hadn't gotten information on this guy yet but we have numerous cases dating back almost twelve years of "The Samoan" being involved in international incidences." Steve's hand absently went to his thigh and rubbed it.

"Guess Vagner hired him for some man-power," he replied. They all looked at him clearly catching on to what he was thinking. This guy was the hired killer that had taken out Cross and had got the better of Steve.

"If it makes you feel better boss, he was a Force Recon Marine," Kono said. Steve just shook his head before pointing to the picture.

"So where are we in tracking this guy down?" he asked.

"As soon as we found out who he was we sent it to all law enforcement on the islands," Raleigh replied. "We've also sent Vagner's photo and stressed he's an immanent armed and dangerous threat."

"Armed? This guy's not dumb enough to have the virus on him," Wells huffed. Raleigh in turn took Kono's tablet and turned it toward the agent.

"I'd count THIS as armed," he replied. Wells simple conceded that point with a shrug but said nothing.

"Okay," Steve nodded. "Chin you fill in Kono and Raleigh about what happened then get on the list we talked about."

"What happened?" Kono asked then her eyes lit up with concern. "Is Danny okay? And what happened to your eye Chin?"

"Both men are tougher than they look," Steve said. "But our clock is short and we have a missing woman to find."

"He's right, come on Cuz," Chin urged. "Steve you'll let us know about Danny?"

"You know it," the Navy SEAL replied. Something deep in his gut was happy to have a team that was so flawless they already knew what needed to be done and how it needed to happen. As skilled as Steve was, he knew the strengths of his team mates and which areas they excelled at.

He was the hunter, Chin was the wisdom, Kono was the cunning tactician and Danny was the gut instinct. Added to that Raleigh with the cyber world know how and Brent Wells with his international contacts, Steve finally had a small bubble of hope that they might actually come out of this on top.

He watched the others disappear just as Dr. Ma reappeared from Danny's room. Steve lurched forward as his partner was wheeled out of the room and down the hall but was stopped by the doctor.

"He's okay," Ma said with much certainty. "It looks like he was just given a light sedative, it hasn't interacted badly with any of the fluids we have him on nor has it affected his treatment but just in case I'm taking him for a few more in depth tests… Can I assume you'll be following until and HPD detail can arrive?" Steve gave the man a smile and a pat on the back.

"You're good Doc," he said. "You can stay." Dr. Ma just rolled his eyes but then motioned for Steve to follow which the Navy SEAL turned to do. However a flash of something caught his eye and he whipped his head towards it.

It was in that split second he just caught the psychotic glance he knew all two well; a grin later and it was gone.

"CALL CHIN!" Steve barked as he tossed the doctor his cell and started running. "Tell him I've got Vagner!" The SEAL didn't waste anymore time or even checking if the doctor was doing as he asked.

Later he might think to himself how stupid it was to give up his only means of communication but at the moment, the greater threat was not capturing Vagner. He just caught sight of a stairwell door closing and charged toward it full tilt.

Once again ignoring his own pain he dashed up the stairs three at a time hearing the foot steps and huffing and puffing of a man not nearly as fit as him a few flights ahead.

'Where are you going?' Steve thought to himself as he ran. 'There's no where to go.'

He'd have his answer soon enough as he burst through an exit that had him skittering to a halt on the gravel roof of the hospital. For a deranged doctor, Vagner had gotten up their pretty quickly and managed to disappear.

Steve pulled out his gun and carefully started watching his surroundings as he slowly moved forward.

"Vagner!" he called out. "If you thought you could escape from the roof you're dumber than I thought!"

When he received no response he once again slowly moved farther away from the stairwell door.

"Come on Holtzman," he said loudly. "Your end game is killing a whole bunch of already sick people? That's the legacy you want to leave?"

"A legacy well worth it for a perfect race that will never get sick again," said a disembodied voice. Steve swung himself around trying to pin point it but with the vents and mechanical units on the hospital roof it was hard to do.

"You'll go down as a monster," Steve replied as he kept on creeping forward checking his flanks as he went. "The world will crucify you."

"You think that's a bad thing," said the voice. "But there's something you didn't factor in Commander McGarrett."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Steve asked finally sensing he was drawing closer to the voice. There was no reply at first and for a moment, the Navy SEAL wondered if he'd tracked the voice to the wrong area. He stopped walking and held his ground; "What did I not factor in Vagner?" he called out.

"That knowing the world will never forget me in any capacity is good enough," Vagner's evil voice chuckled. "That… and I'm just as willing to kill you as I am to go with you!"

The doctor came at him like a blur causing Steve to swivel all his weight on his bad leg. Caught of guard and stunned momentarily by pain, Steve didn't have a chance as Vagner plowed into him propelling them both toward the ledge of the building.

"Momento mori, Commander!" Vagner spat angrily.

A breath later, a desperate attempt at salvation by reaching out his arm and Steve knew he had no hope. The Navy SEAL's arms flailed, his eyes bulged and gravity took its course.

The two tangled bodies wavered just for a breath before both toppled over the edge of the five-story building and disappeared from sight to the hard pavement below.

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><p><strong>*Runs far far away* Had only a few reviews on the last chapter so I hope that one and this one didn't bore people to death. <strong>

**In any case, I'm LOVING writing this story so I'll keep going regardless though I do enjoy feedback to make me a stronger writer.**

**Love lots,**

**Oz**


	12. Innocence Lost

**This chapter is dedicated to Calebwolf, they know why! Sorry it's taken me so long to post, real life dealt me the devils hand recently and to boot I know have a sinus cold from hell. Argh.**

**So message me if you need any recapping; sorry for those of you who might need to start again from the beginning! I'm going to try harder seeing how this story is almost at its conclusion! **

**Enjoy!**

**Oz**

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><p>Danny crawled and clawed his way from his fog of unconsciousness, it took him a solid minute before his eyes finally remembered how to open. Everything hurt and for a brief second he considered just shutting down and going back to the warm bliss he'd been in before but with the waking world came some revelations.<p>

Like Ms. Osaki being taken against her will.

With a snort, Danny tried to move only to have to strong arms hold him in place.

"Easy Brah," Kono urged. "You're okay Danny." It took a few more deep breaths before the detective was able to focus on the Hawaiian officer at his bed side.

"Kono?" he grunted.

"The one and only," the woman replied. However it didn't quite reach her eyes, it was only then did Danny realize Raleigh was in the corner of the room facing away from them and quietly talking on his phone. Though what he was saying couldn't be heard, his tone was anything but promising.

"S'going on?" Danny grunted. "Ms. Osaki?"

"We're still looking for her," Kono replied. Then an odd look crossed her face, "H.P.D.'s got the whole hospital and parking lot pretty well locked down." Danny raised a tired eyebrow.

"Now maybe it's the drugs talking but I swear there's something you're not telling me," he grunted. Kono chewed on her bottom lip then opened her mouth only to be cut off when Raleigh finished his phone call and joined her side.

"Everything's been sectored off," he said. "Searching the hospital top to bottom and I've got some of my guys going over the surveillance."

"Vagner?" Kono asked quietly. Raleigh held her gaze then oddly glanced at Danny before looking back to the woman and shaking his head.

"Gone."

"Gone? Whadya mean gone?" Danny said. He struggled to sit up more once again having Kono ease him back down. "Someone tell me what's going on!? How did you lose him!?"

"We didn't lose him," Raleigh replied. "He's dead so any information of where Ms. Osaki is died with him."

"Dead?" Danny blinked. Then a feeling of absolute dread washed over him and this time when he shifted himself into a sitting position, Kono didn't stop him. "Where's Steve?" he asked. At first the two people around him didn't reply which only made the detective's heart monitor pick up its pace. "Where is that idiot self-sacrificing death wish yielding Neanderthal animal terminator partner of mine!?" he wheezed.

"Terminator? That's a new one, I like it." Kono and Raleigh both stepped out of the way as the room door opened and in walked Steve McGarrett as if nothing at all were wrong; Close behind him Ben ambled in as well.

"What did you do?" Danny demanded. "We needed Vagner to tell us where the virus is!... What happened to you anyway?" Sure enough, Steve held his arm tenderly to his side a wound the Jersey native was sure his friend didn't have the last time he saw him.

"We'll find the virus, we still have a lot of other players out there," Steve said with a pained shrug. "And I uh... had an altercation with Vagner."

"Altercation," Raleigh snorted. "Your man here fell off the roof."

"YOU WHAT!?" Danny squawked. He went to start ranting only to be brought down by his still sickly and injured body. He collapsed back to his bed with a grunt as all three people in the room quickly got to his side.

"Easy Danno, you're still recovering," Steve urged.

"Easy!?" Danny sniped, gripping the sheets he lay on, "What is he talking about?!"

"Thanks Raleigh," Steve said sarcastically eyeballing the man. "We said we'd wait to tell him." The cyber officer just raised an eyebrow not repentant in the least.

"Never mind your absurd need to protect me, the hell happened?" Danny asked this time with a little bit more of a level head.

"I saw Vagner and chased him up to the roof," Steve replied. "He got the drop on my bad leg and sent us both over the edge." Danny blinked then blinked again.

"Forgive me if this seems callous but you look awfully good for someone who supposedly fell off a building... even if you are a Navy SEAL," he replied. Steve smirked and shook his head.

"Ben," he replied giving the nurse a grateful look. "Caught me last second, apparently he'd just stepped off the elevator and saw me running into the stair well."

"I just finished having lunch with my family," he replied. "Gotta say brah, watching you dive off a roof is not good for the digestion. 'Specially when you out weigh me by a good thirty pounds."

"Pure muscle," Steve said patting his stomach. The motion however caused him to wince and he clutched his shoulder. Danny rolled his tired eyes; he'd seen that look on his partner's face before.

"You dislocated your shoulder again didn't you?" the detective sighed. Everyone in the room spun around and looked at the Commander while Ben just frowned.

"I knew I heard something pop," he growled. "You told me you were fine."

"I am fine," Steve spat back. "I'll pop it back in and we're all good. We're working a terror threat AND an abduction case now, healing can wait."

"You're an idiot," Danny snarled. He would have said more however at that exact moment the room door opened and a man the detective didn't recognize walked in. It was clear how Steve's spine stiffened that he and the others in the room did however.

"Wells," Steve all but growled. He turned to Danny and thumbed at the newcomer. "Danny Williams meet Agent Brent Wells NSA."

"Wonderful," Danny sighed. "I'm assuming it's due to your lack of playing nice in the sand box that this situation has gotten as bad as it has."

"I'm going to ignore you for a moment while I deal with more important information," the NSA man dead-panned. He pulled out a tablet and handed it off to Steve. "There's something you need to see, my office in tandem with the cyber crime unit received this a half hour ago."

When the Navy SEAL went to grab the tablet however he used his bad arm and instantly retracted with a hiss. Agent Wells only just managed to catch the tablet before it fell to the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Dislocated shoulder," Raleigh replied. With a simply eye-roll, Wells handed his tablet to Raleigh before grabbing Steve by the wrist.

"Hey, what are y-aaah! Son of a..." With a quick pull and pop Danny knew his partner's shoulder has once again been set in place. Not that it was a pleasant thing to watch but he was glad his partner would no longer risk permanent damage.

"Okay now that your "man card" has been stamped I need to show you a video," Wells said. He brought his tablet to life and turned it to face the group. Danny sat up a bit as he saw the face of Doctor Hansen Cross, his former and now deceased doctor. Everyone in the room instantly perked up a bit curious to know what was going on.

Once the NSA agent hit play the doctor's weathered face came to life as he looked into the camera.

"If the authorities have received this video it's because I'm dead or unable to hide my skeletons anymore more. Most likely the latter as the man I've been helping is nothing short of pure evil," Cross explained.

"You can say that again," Danny muttered as he thought of Holtzman Vagner's psychotic gaze. It didn't go unnoticed how Steve subconsciously got a little bit closer to his partner's bedside.

"For the past while Vagner and I have been working together on genetic research to essentially create the perfect and customizable weapon. All my work can be found on a single lap top in a safe in my home which if I'm gone, I'm hoping it's already been found.

Understand I'm not bad man but I'm not a brave man either. While we attended school together I will admit I was intrigued by Vagner's theories of mutating genes and combining them with virus's to essentially target the distinct characteristics of your enemy. However when Holtzman started to want to test his theories I wanted no part of it.

When I found out he'd lost his license I believed myself free of a man who'd often try to contact me to get my support in his efforts. I moved to Hawaii to start over and for a while it worked.

A while ago, Holztman found me and instead of the curious man I knew as a student, I came face to face with a monster hell bent on destroying the world. At first I refused to help him, particularly when he wanted to involve children without parents…" The doctor paused as he briefly turned away from the camera clearly ashamed of himself. When he looked back, his eyes held a lot of pain and grief.

"Understand I've never been a brave man and when Holtzman told me he'd make sure my sister and her family would be the first to die if I didn't help him, I believed him. God help me I believed him."

"So Vagner did have something over Dr. Cross," Kono muttered as the other's in the room nodded.

"Yeah, now here comes the good part…" Brent sighed turning up the volume slightly.

"The virus mutates as necessary once it attaches itself to a certain genetic code, then it can be used on other's with similar genes or DNA," Cross explained. "By taking a common lethal virus such as the plague or locally here in Hawaii called the "1,2,3" we were able to synthesize virus's that would attack those we've taken genetic material from…"

Danny took a moment to glance at his partner as Steve absently rubbed his thigh right where the SEAL had a piece taken out of him. He shuddered to think what Steve's DNA was going to be used for... Hell for that matter, he shuddered to think what HIS DNA had been used for.

"Detective Danny Williams was infected with a treatable strain as were all the test subjects," Cross went on drawing a wince from everyone in the room. "As we've collected samples from all walks of life under the guise of young Hawaiian's swarming tourists we've created a… we've created a monster. I finally had enough when I found Vagner's manifesto and knew I had to do something. He plans to test his "superbug" not just on the Hawaiian people but on the infirm as well. He modified it without my knowing by using Commander McGarrett's extremely healthy cells and genetic material to pick up on the strong and attack the weak."

"Jesus Christ," Ben breathed.

"What he said," Danny said just as stunned. Finally it seemed like the video was coming to an end as Dr. Cross finally started showing some emotion as a tear rolled down the man's cheek.

"I was running my own research without Vagner's knowledge. There are ways to combat the "superbug" until the bodies natural systems can fight it off. I'd also… I'd also like to apologize for being a selfish man and thinking only of myself and my family. I'd do it again in a heartbeat but I do regret all the trouble it's caused…"

"Trouble," Raleigh hissed bitterly. "Yeah cause he's the only one with a family."

"Mercy General is ground zero, I know that for sure but have no idea where or how Vagner intended on exposing those inside to the virus," Cross said his voice now shaking slightly. "I beg you to stop him and hopefully once that's accomplished you can take my research and but it to good use. There are elements of isolating genes and DNA that could be added to help weakened individuals.

From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry," Cross's tears were evident now as he ran a hand down his face. "If I'm dead, it's because I deserved it… just please… tell my sister I did it for her." Like that the video ended, leaving everyone in the room rather stunned and slightly disgusted.

"Cross was a puppet," Danny breathed out.

"Just as much as those kids are and were," Raleigh nodded. "Except now the puppet master's dead and we've still got a bunch of angry orphan's being guided by a guy who's probably got little to lose at this point." Steve nodded as he turned to Danny looking the man in the eye.

"We need to find Ms Osaki and that Samoan guy," Danny said as if reading his partner's mind. Steve nodded.

"Chin's back with surveillance," he explained. "I was going to take Raleigh and…" The Navy SEAL was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone, one glance at the thing and he answered it. "Chin whadya got?" When Steve's eyes went wide, "What?" he barked. "When did this happen?" Another pause and then the man nodded. "I'll call you back, get H.P.D. SWAT to cover all entrances and exits do NOT let them in the building understand?" Without so much as a goodbye Steve snapped his phone shut and then raced over to the nearest window with a curse.

"Steve what is it? What's going on?" Danny asked.

"Pan's lost boys aren't so lost anymore," Steve hissed; Drawing the other mobile people in the room over to the window that overlooked the back parking lot of the hospital.

"Oh good and they've come armed with rifles," Brent groaned. "I knew they'd be a problem."

"You think?" Raliegh hissed. "But what are they doing?" Since Danny couldn't see what was going on his thoughts weren't distracted like the others. It slowly dawned on him and now it was his turn to curse drawing the other's attention.

"Danny?" Chin asked.

"They're keeping us from leaving," he said. Kono's mouth dropped open.

"We stopped the evacuation when Ms. Osaki went missing," she explained. "So Vagner couldn't get away without anyone seeing him."

"Except he didn't are about getting out," Steve added. His brow furrowed in anger, "But he knew we'd stop the evac… he also knew all of Five-0 would be in here. It wasn't about taking Ms. Osaki, it was about making sure the most amount of victims stayed within the walls of this hospital."

"Because the worst off patients are the last to get taken out," Brent joined in. "Damn it we need to find that superbug, he's end game has started already."

"They question is, what reason do those kids have to want to be a part of this?" Kono asked. "Except for Jesse and Milo it seems to me like the rest of them still believed they were just beating up tourists. What story could they possibly have been told to get them to stick up a hospital?"

"For that matter if The Samoan is still leading them, who's paying him to keep going?" Brent asked. Danny bit his bottom lip and looked in the direction of the window; he really hoped the answer to those questions wouldn't come with the bloodshed of innocent kids.

Outside the hospital Jonas "The Samoan" A'Amakualenalena paused in the slicing of the apple he'd been munching on. Sitting in the open door of one of four vans that had all parked next to each other he smiled to himself. When he saw the news earlier that day that Vagner was dead he knew it was time for the final phase.

He'd gathered together all the kids he'd enlisted over the months and was confident in the 30 person strong army he now had at his disposal. Teenagers were easy to manipulate. Teenagers with mommy and daddy issues were blank slates that required little effort in molding them to what you wanted.

He watched as the teens, armed and angry fanned out around the hospital grounds. He also watched as H.P.D. gathered with equal fervor to barricade the exits the teens were approaching. It wouldn't be long before all hell broke loose, Jonas was sure.

The teens would act without thinking, H.P.D. would have no choice but to respond and while everyone was caught up in the horror show, he would slip into the hospital and finish the mission.

"Sir," one of the teens approached his open door and while Jonas couldn't remember his name, he knew the kid was one of the angriest and ready to kill of the bunch.

"Yeah?" Jonas asked.

"Is this really going to make national tv?" he asked with a hint of excitement. Jonas smiled, these kids liked it when he smiled at them it was probably the only parenting most of them ever got.

"Kid all the world is going to know what we as a people are willing to do for our native lands," he replied. Then he clutched the kid by the back of the neck and gave it a reaffirming squeeze. "Pele wont forget what you do for her today, what you've done to protect your culture. We're doing a good thing here brah and no hoale cops are going to take that away from you." The kid nodded excitedly as he shifted his weapon.

"We gotta make sure Five-0 and the hoale cops know we ain't playin' around," he said.

"That's right," Jonas smirked. "So you guys get ready to hold the line while I go in and bring that cop out for his final lesson no one gets away from Pele's wrath twice. Now go on." The ignorant teenager bounced away with a nod rejoining the other teens.

Jonas cut another slice of his apple and popped it into his mouth going back to his thoughts. He had no intention of even finding where that detective was let alone bringing him out to them but they didn't know that. They also didn't know they'd probably all be dead within the next few hours.

"This had better work." Jonas raised an eyebrow and looked in the rearview mirror.

"Would have gone a whole lot smoother if that brat didn't rat us out," he replied. The man who'd stayed hidden from the group arriving in his own vehicle shortly after the vans and joining Jonas once his was empty, glared angrily at him.

"Would have helped if you knew the kid had a genius twin," he snarled. "And don't think for a damn second put this mess on me when YOU were too stupid to keep a leash on Dr. Cross and ended up having to kill him before we got all of his research! Years Hotlzman and I worked on this, YEARS an in a few weeks you've managed to screw everything up! I can't believe anyone's even bothering to keep paying you!" Jonas just looked at the man with a blank expression.

"Just make sure my check clears when this is over," he hissed darkly. He chucked his half eaten apple out the door and used his knife to point menacingly at the man behind him. "Because if it doesn't I've got a special body bag tucked away just for you, understood?"

The man seemed to suddenly lose his nerve as the knife wielding professional killer put him in his place. He swallowed hard and nodded.

"Good," Jonas smiled turning back to the windshield calm once again and tucking away his knife. "Alright Mr. Harrison… shall we go to work?"

* * *

><p><strong>Well there it is! The next chapter at last! Hope you all liked it and will give me some reviews. I wasn't sure about this chapter but it's bringing a lot of elements together. Oh and if you're wondering (I know it was a few chapters and a long time ago) Thomas Harrison came in with Ms. Osaki as her attorneycoworker and friend... or so she thinks... Dun duuuuh...**

**Thanks again for reading!**

**Oz**


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